BJP chief JP Nadda has targeted Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi over the farmers’ protest (File)
New Delhi: BJP chief JP Nadda on Sunday accused the Congress’s Rahul Gandhi of hypocrisy and misleading farmers protesting against the centre’s controversial agriculture laws.
Mr Nadda, who on Thursday tweeted an old video of Congress chief Sonia Gandhi as “proof of (the party’s) double-talk”, targeted her son today, digging out an excerpt from Mr Gandhi’s May 2015 Lok Sabha speech in which Gandhi seemed to support removal of middlemen and allowing farmers to sell directly to buyers.
“What is this magic happening, Rahulji? What you were earlier advocating, now you are opposing. You have nothing to do with the interest of country or farmers. You want to play politics. But your hypocrisy will not work… the people and the farmers have realised your dual character,” Mr Nadda tweeted.
In the attached video, Mr Gandhi narrates a conversation between himself and a farmer from Uttar Pradesh, in which the farmer says he could get a better price for his potato crop if he could sell directly to factories that make potato chips.
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Jagat Prakash Nadda (@JPNadda) December 27, 2020
The BJP has repeatedly accused the Congress (and other opposition parties) of misleading protesters and engineering protests against the farm laws for political gain. The ruling party has alleged the Congress wanted to pass similar bills when it was in power (at the head of the United Progressive Alliance), but is now opposing the reforms for fear of losing votes and credit.
“The reality of the Congress, which confuses farmers and deprives them of their rights, is revealed again. Sonia Gandhi used to advocate a market free of middlemen for farmers and now opposes it. This is proof of the Congress’s opportunistic thinking,” Mr Nadda said in his attack on Sonia Gandhi.
In the undated video that accompanied his tweet, Ms Gandhi appears to be speaking in favour of the removal of middlemen to enable farmers to get “the right price for produce”.
Farmers protesting the new laws fear being deprived of MSPs (minimum support price) and being left at the mercy of corporates. The centre, however, insists the laws free farmers from having to deal with middlemen and gives them the option to sell at markets and prices of their choice.
Five rounds of talks have been held so far to resolve the impasse between the two sides. However, neither side is willing to budge at this point. The farmers want the laws scrapped and the centre is only open to amending more problematic sections.
An invitation to a sixth round has been dismissed by the farmers, who say the centre is “not serious about our demands” and is more interested in propaganda that paints them in a negative light.
This morning farmers banged thalis to create a racket as Prime Minister’s monthly radio address – Mann ki Baat – was broadcast. The protests took place at three spots – at Singhu on the Delhi-Haryana border, in Punjab’s Faridkot and Rohtak in BJP-ruled Haryana.
