Hitting out at Centre over its handling of the farmers’ protest, former Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Thursday demanded immediate Parliament session to repeal the controversial farm Bills .
Rahul said there is no democracy in India after he met President Ram Nath Kovind as part of Congress delegation with two crore signatures against the farm laws. Rahul Gandhi, senior party leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad and Adhir Chowdhury were allowed to visit the Rashtrapati Bhawan while all others, including Priyanka Gandhi, were detained.
After meeting with the President, Rahul Gandhi said, “I want to tell PM Modi that farmers will not go back home if there’s no repeal of the farm laws. The Centre should call a joint session of Parliament and repeal the laws. All opposition parties are with the farmers.”
Rahul Gandhi told the President the laws were “anti-farmer” and would make farmers suffer huge losses. He said the Opposition stood with the farmers who have been camping at Delhi’s borders for over a month now demanding the repeal of the legislations.
“We took crores of signatures… the voices of farmers. The PM will have to listen to them. The entire country is watching. It is cold, and the farmers are suffering, dying. I am warning you. Nobody can stand against the farmers,” the Gandhi scion said.
Rahul Gandhi alleged that only three-four people are running the system and said the Congress is fighting this.
“It is an assault on the idea of India. The government is stopping our MPs from moving out of our office...There is no democracy in India, it is only in imagination, not in reality,” said Rahul Gandhi, after coming out of the meeting.
Expressing solidarity, the Congress leaders said the Opposition stands with farmers. “The protesting farmers will not stop the protest till the laws are repealed. There is no democracy in India,” he said flanked by party leaders.
As the march was stopped, Priyanka Gandhi said, “Any dissent against this government is classified as having elements of terror. We are undertaking this march to voice our support for the farmers.”
Priyanka Gandhi also said, “We’re living in a democracy and they are elected MPs. They have the right to meet the President and they should be allowed. What is the problem with that? Government is not ready to listen to voices of lakhs of farmers camping at borders.”