Congress announces mass movement against Modi govt on farm bills, party to take to the streets from Sept 24
Sep 21, 2020
By Siddharth Sharma
New Delhi [India], September 21 : After protesting against the agricultural bills in Parliament, the Congress announced it will take to the streets, launching a mass movement across the country from September 24.
The decision was taken at a meeting of members of the auxiliary committee, the general secretaries and the state in-charges, said former Union Minister AK Antony in a press conference.
He said that the Congress will stage a nationwide demonstration from September 24 to demand withdrawal of the agricultural Bills.
"This movement will conclude on November 14. The party will take the signatures of 2 crore farmers (against the bills) and hand them over to the President," he said.
Senior party leader Ahmad Patel said the government has destroyed the democratic system. The agricultural bills are neither in the interest of the state government, nor the central government, or the farmers, he said.
"We raised our voice against this in Parliament. We will now take to the streets. The movement has been planned on the instructions of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. We will go to the village level and get farmers' signatures," said Patel.
The Congress party has declared these bills as anti-farmer and three Rajya Sabha MPs of the Congress have also been suspended for the current session for creating an uproar in Rajya Sabha when the Agriculture Bill was passed.
Congress organisation general secretary incharge KC Venugopal said the Prime Minister is misleading the country by accusing the opposition of misleading them.
"The Congress party will hold press conferences in every state. The state president and other state leaders will hand over the memorandum to the governor in every state while staging a 'padyatra'," said Venugopal.
Kisan-Mazdoor Bachao Day will be organised and a sit-in demonstration will be held in every district on Gandhi Jayanti on October 2. A Kisan Sammelan will also be held in every state on October 10.
The party has set a target of collecting signatures of 2 crore farmers and handing them over to the President on November 14, Nehru Jayanti.
