New Delhi: The Congress will lead a “decisive fight inside and outside Parliament” on farmers’ issues and take the battle to its logical conclusion, party vice-president Rahul Gandhi made clear during his interaction here on Saturday with farmers from five states.
In fact, it was the first policy statement he made after returning from a nearly two-month sabbatical suggesting that the Grand Old Party was taking a left-of-centre position by shifting from the “pro-reform” policy it adopted in 1991.
The Congress has taken up the issues of farmers and landless labourers at a time when the BJP is talking of reforms, growth rate and Hindutva, while other parties are either playing the caste card or regional card to win elections.Mr Gandhi, who spent over two hours with farmers from Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana and Delhi at his 12, Tughlak Lane residence here, met them in groups.
He assured them that he and the Congress “will lead a decisive fight inside and outside Parliament and will take it to a logical conclusion”. He also called upon the farmers and landless labourers to come to the party’s “Kisan Khet Majdoor rally” at the Ramlila Grounds on Sunday and lend their voices to the “mass struggle for finding a decisive solution”.
AICC general secretaries in charge of these states and the PCC presidents were present during Mr Gandhi’s interactions on Saturday. The farmers told Mr Gandhi about the Modi government’s apathy in procuring rabi crops, particularly wheat and other crops which are lying in the open in grain markets.
