The Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) on Monday organised a Kheti Bachao rally here against the new farm laws of the Narendra Modi government.

Hundreds of party workers on tractors and motorcycles joined the procession that began from the Congress Bhavan here and culminated in a rally in the millennium city of Cuttack, about 23km from here. Dozens of tractors were also part of the rally.

Leading the rally Odisha Pradesh Congress-in-charge Dr A. Chellakumar lambasted the Modi government for adopting anti-farmer laws. Describing the laws as draconian and anti-farmer, Chellakumar said: “ The rally is aimed to educate people what the Narendra Modi government has done to them. Its aim is to bring awareness about these draconian laws and educate the farmers on how their interests are going to be badly hit. Most of the farmers are still unaware of these laws which would only serve the purpose of the big business and corporates.”

Chellakumar said during the UPA government around Rs 74,000 crore was released for the development of agriculture sector. “All the programmes including the MGNREGS were launched during the Congress regime,” he said.