New Delhi: Congress party, on Saturday, extended its support to the farmer unions call for Bharat Bandh on September 27, 2021. This comes a day after RJD announced that it will participate in this peaceful protest of farmers.
While addressing a press conference, Congress spokesperson Gourav Vallabh said, "We demand that the due process of discussion with the farmers should be initiated, because they are sitting on the borders of Delhi for the last 9 months. We demand that the three black laws which were imposed without any consultation should be taken back."
"We demand that MSP should be given as a legal right to every farmer because we don't want only Jumlas. In the next 5 months, the cut-off date will come when the Prime Minister had promised that he is going to double the farmers' income. Unfortunately, in comparison to 2012-13, the farmers' income got reduced by 10 percent from 48 percent to 38 percent till 2018-19," he further added.
Apart from the political parties, the All India Bank officer's confederation has also extended its support to the bandh on Monday.
Gourav Vallabh, when asked about Prime Minister's meeting US Vice President Kamala Harris, replied, "When Prime Minister goes on a visit to any other country, he represents all of us. It is indeed a matter of concern for us that an outsider is telling us, India which is the land of Mahatama Gandhi, to protect democracy. However, this should be taken in a positive manner."
Vallabh's reaction comes in this backdrop. During Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit, US Vice President Kamala Harris had spoken to him regarding a threat to democracy. She told PM Modi that as democracies around the world are under threat, it is imperative that we defend democratic principles and Institutions within our respective countries.
"Kamala Harris said these things to PM Modi because the recent survey of Freedom House, which is an independent agency, assessed that India's ranking has fallen among the democratic countries and even mentioned us within the section of 'Partially independent democracy'. PM must consider this seriously," he asserted.
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