Continuing her attack on the Yogi Adityanath Government, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Monday said the Government cannot hide the "plight" of farmers by giving full page advertisements. She also questioned that Government on what it had done about the "black agri laws".
The Congress leader's attack came over a media report on a farmer allegedly committing suicide in Pichaura village under Kanpur Dehat after his crops were ruined due to floods in the village.
"Farmers are the soul of this country. The UP Government cannot hide the plight of the farmers by giving full page advertisements. Tell me what did you do -- With regard to stray cattle? Compensation for crop loss? Payment of sugarcane dues? About black agri laws? Regarding inflation and the price of electricity?" she said in a series of tweets in Hindi on Monday.
Farmers, mainly from Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh, have been camping at Delhi's borders since November last year in protest against three agricultural laws. Out of them, a small group of 200 farmers are now staging a protest at Jantar Mantar in central Delhi after getting special permission.
The Congress and several other opposition parties are demanding repeal of the farm laws.
Meanwhile, the Uttar Pradesh Congress on Monday launched the “BJP Gaddi Chhodo” campaign against the ruling Bharatiya Janata Dal in UP. The campaign was started on the anniversary of Quit India Movement.
According to UP Congress president Ajay Kumar Lallu, the party held demonstrations and took out marches in all assembly constituencies over issues such as price rise, unemployment, farmers’ plight and the law and order situation.
Lallu alleged that the Congress leaders were either stopped, house arrested or detained at several places to stop them from taking out the procession to expose the misdoings of the Government.
“On August 9, 1942, the Quit India Movement was launched under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi which resulted in the freedom of the country from the British rule five years later. We started the ‘BJP Gaddi Chhodo’ campaign and are confident of good results in the next year’s assembly polls,” he said.
The UPCC chief claimed that various top leaders of the party undertook a march for about 5 kilometres through the main market of each assembly constituency and raised slogans like “BJP Gaddi Chhodo”.
Interestingly, to make the campaign a success, all the potential candidates for the assembly elections or those staking their claims on the party tickets were directed to actively participate in the event along with their supporters.
It may be mentioned that Ajay Kumar Lallu on Sunday said, “The Congress will contest Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections next year under the leadership of Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. The party is confident that it will make a comeback in the state after over three decades under her leadership and supervision.”