Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday accused the Centre of designing the new farm laws to “destroy” the agriculture sector, while asserting that repealing them is the only way to solve the farmers’ issue.
Addressing a press conference, the former Congress president said, “I support the protesting farmers 100 per cent and every single person in the country should support them as they are fighting for us.”
"He also released a booklet highlighting the “plight” of farmers in the wake of the Centre’s three farm laws.
He alleged that the laws will put the entire agriculture sector in the hands of “three to four crony capitalists”.
The Centre's new farm laws are “designed to destroy” the agriculture sector, he further said.
When asked about the impasse in talks between the Centre and the protesting farmers, Gandhi said repealing the legislations is the only way to end the deadlock.
Hitting back at BJP president J.P. Nadda for his tweets earlier in the day criticising him, the Congress leader said it was an “attempted distraction”.
“The farmers know that it was Rahul Gandhi who stood up in Bhatta Parsaul and over the land acquisition issue, not BJP leader Nadda,” he said.
“I am not afraid of anyone, neither of (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi nor of anyone else. I am a clean person, they can’t touch me. They can shoot me, but can't touch me. I am a patriot and I protect my country, and I will keep doing it,” he added.
He further hit back at Nadda, who had in a series of tweets targeted him for attacking the government over a report saying that China had built a village in Arunachal Pradesh on the Indian side of the border.
“Now that Mr Rahul Gandhi has returned from his monthly vacation, I would like to ask him some questions. I hope he will answer them in today's Press Conference,” Nadda had said.
“Who is he that I have to answer to him? Is he my professor? I will answer to the country,” Gandhi said.