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Agencies

Rahul Gandhi to lead Congress march to Rashtrapati Bhavan, submit 2 crore signatures against farm laws
24-December-2020

Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will lead a delegation of party MPs on Thursday from the Vijay Chowk to the Rashtraparti Bhavan to meet President Ram Nath Kovind. Rahul will submit a memorandum to the President containing two crore signatures of farmers seeking in intervention to break the impasse over the new farm laws.

The Congress party has extended support to the farmers protest against the agri reforms. Today is 29th day of the protests. Thousands of farmers, mostly from Punjab and Haryana, are currently staying put at Delhi's borders with Haryana and Uttar Pradesh in protest against the Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.

Opposition parties including the Congress have extended support to the farmers' demand to repeal the laws. Farmers have expressed apprehension that these laws would pave the way for the dismantling of the minimum support price system, leaving them at the "mercy" of big corporations. However, the government has maintained that the new laws will bring farmers better opportunities and usher in new technologies in agriculture. The government argues that the three farm laws will remove the middlemen and allow farmers to sell anywhere in the country.

Earlier, a delegation of opposition leaders comprising Rahul had met the President. The delegation had submitted a memorandum to Kovind seeking his intervention to break the logjam.

Meanwhile, farmer unions have asked the government not to repeat the proposal of "meaningless" amendments that they have already rejected but come up with a "concrete" offer in writing for the resumption of talks. Reading out a reply to the government's talks offer during a press conference, farmers leaders said that they are ready for dialogue with an open mind if they get a concrete proposal, but made it clear they will not accept anything less than a complete repeal of the three agriculture laws and legal guarantee for MSP.