Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra told Congress leaders, protesting against the three controversial farm laws in New Delhi, that nothing short of a repeal of the legislations was acceptable, said party leaders present in the meeting with Gandhi at the protest venue at 12 Tughlaq Lane.
“We will not back down,” Priyanka Gandhi said at the meeting. “The only solution is that they revoke the laws, there is no other solution.”
The Congress general secretary also discussed the way forward with the protesting members of parliament and other leaders. “She extended her sympathy for our plight,” said a leader, who attended the meeting. “She also discussed a programme that the Congress will launch if the laws aren’t repealed,” he added.
Party leaders present at the meeting also said that issues regarding the organisation were discussed. The meeting, which lasted over two hours, also addressed the need for improvements in the party to better provide an effective opposition.
“The government is delaying repealing the laws,” Congress MP Jasbir Singh Gill, who attended the meeting, said. “It is deliberately using these tactics because it wants to tire out the farmers and drive them away without addressing their concerns.”
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The Congress MPs and legislators have been protesting at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi since last month to draw the government’s attention to the plight of the farmers. Despite eight rounds of talks, with the latest one being held on Friday, the government has refused to compromise on its stand and repeal the three controversial laws that the farmers say will deprive them of their livelihood and make them vulnerable to powerful private firms.
The government has, however, offered to set up a committee to examine the laws.
The Congress has been vehemently opposing the government’s stance, with interim party chief Sonia Gandhi calling for a complete revocation of the “black laws”. She has targeted the government for being “ruthless, insensitive and arrogant”, for allegedly displaying complete “apathy” towards the plight of the farmers.
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