Ahead of the 2019 Lok sabha polls, the opposition is sparing no effort to target the Prime Minister Narendra Modi government. As the farmer’s protest hit the streets of the capital , opposition leaders have highlighted their woes and blamed the government for neglecting them.
At a rally in the capital Congress president Rahul Gandhi, Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal, Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar, Communist Party of India-Marxist general secretary Sitaram Yechury, National Conference chief Farooq Abdullah, Loktantrik Janata Dal mentor Sharad Yadav and CPI leader D Raja at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi.
Gandhi said the leaders of opposition parties stand united with farmers in ensuring their good future and called for a farm loan waiver, asserting that peasants are asking for what is due to them and not a “free gift”.
“The farmers of India are not asking for a free gift, they are only asking for their rights and what is due to them. The prime minister said he will provide remunerative prices to farmers, bonus and increased MSP, but the situation today is you pay for insurance and it goes into the pocket of Anil Ambani. Farmers cannot even decide which company’s insurance to buy,” he said.
“The country has been divided between Ambani and Adani. But your farm loan waiver does not happen, you don’t get the right prices and hollow speeches are made,” he went on to add.
He trained his guns at Prime Minister Narendra Modi alleging that if Rs 30,000 crore can be given to Anil Ambani, an apparent reference to the Rafale fighter jet deal, why can’t loans of farmers be waived.
“Farmers are not asking Anil Ambani’s aircraft from Modi ji, but India’s farmers are saying that if Anil Ambani can be given Air Force’s money of Rs 30,000 crore, if you can give 3.5 lakh crore to your 15 friends, then for our hard work, sweat and blood, why cannot our farm loans be waived,” he said.
