`Modi destroyed agriculture, defence forces': Congress extends support to marching Punjab farmers

SAMRALA (PUNJAB): Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge extended his party’s support to the farmers who have set on a march to Delhi seeking fulfillment of the promises the Modi government made when they withdrew their yearlong protest at Delhi borders.

He congratulated the Punjab farmers for launching the stir to get their demands fullfilled.

Addressing an impressive workers convention organized by the Punjab Congress here today, Kharge pointed out that Modi had promised so many things to the farmers including a guarantee on Minimum Support Price. “What happened to those promises?” he asked.

Congress president accused Prime Minister Modi of calling farmers names and describing them as terrorists and ‘andolan jeevies’ in a most derogatory manner.

Congratulating the people of Punjab, he said, the state was unique as it was only here that both the Jawans and Kisans were found. He said in some places there are kisans but no jawans, and in some places, there are jawans but no kisans. But, he remarked, it is only in Punjab we find both Jawans and Kisans thus a great and unique instance of former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri’s slogan, “Jai Jawan Jai Kisan”.

But, Kharge regretted that Modi had tried to damage and destroy both institutions of farming as well as the defence services. He said, while Modi first brought three black laws, then he introduced the Agnipath scheme in the defence services.

Substantiating his charge that Modi was anti-farmer, Kharge disclosed that Rs one lakh crores allocated for the agriculture sector had lapsed as the Modi government did not spend it on agriculture.

He disclosed that Rs 40,000 crores were pocketed by the private insurance companies under the ‘Fasal Beema Yojana’. Besides, for the first time in independent India’s history, farmers were paying a tax of Rs 25,000 per hectare.

Similarly, Kharge added that the Modi government was not filling about 30 lakh vacancies in various government departments and public sector undertakings. He alleged that Modi does not want the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes, and the Backward Classes to get 50 percent jobs. He said Modi wants the poor to remain poor.

He said the big industries set up under the Public Sector by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru were being handed over to one single friend of the Prime Minister.

Responding to Modi's question as to what Congress did, Kharge said, “We built dams, brought white and green revolution, and set up institutions like the Punjab Agriculture University”. He challenged the BJP and Modi to name a single such thing they had done for the country.

Taking a jibe at the Prime Minister, he remarked that sometimes Modi flags off a single train twice, first from the South and second time from the North.

Among those present included state in charge Devender Yadav, former Chief Ministers Ms Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, Charanjit Singh Channi, PCC president Raja Warring, CLP leader Partap Singh Bajwa, former Deputy CM Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, OP Soni, senior leader Manish Tewari, PCC Working president Bharat Bhushan Ashu and others.