Nagpur: Condemning the police action against farmers marching towards Delhi, the Congress asked why if the Centre could write off the huge debt of a few industrialists, it could not waive off farmers’ loans.
Congress spokesman Randeep Singh Surjewala criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi, claiming that “arrogance had gone to his head”.
Speaking to reporters at the venue of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting, Mr Surjewala said, “Instead of hearing them out, farmers are being brutalised and beaten up. The badshah in the Delhi sultanate is drunk on power.”
On Tuesday, thousands of farmers marched towards Delhi to press for demands ranging from farm loan waiver to reduction in fuel prices, blocking traffic movement on arterial roads leading to the national capital. The farmers, riding tractors and trolleys, broke barricades put up by the Uttar Pradesh (UP) police and proceeded towards barricades put up by the Delhi police, a senior police officer said. They were intercepted at the Delhi-UP border by the police, which used water cannons and tear gas to disperse them.
Mr Surjewala said, “If the Modi government can write off the '3.17 lakh crore debt of a few industrialists, why can’t it write off loans of 62 crore farmers. Can’t the farmers come to Delhi to get their grievances heard, ask for debt clearance, and adequate price for their produce? The CWC strongly condemns the lathi charge and barbaric action against farmers.”
