Centre's new farm laws 'criminal,' will fight them, says Rahul Gandhi

Keeping up the attack onthe NDA government at the Centre over the new farm laws,Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday said they were''criminal'' and vowed to oppose them in the interest of thefarmers.

The laws were aimed at benefitting ''5-6 peopleclosest'' to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Gandhi said at afarmers' convention at Vangal in this district, as part ofhis three-day election campaign in poll-bound Tamil Naduwhich began on Saturday.

He alleged that Modi wanted the farmers to negotiatewith ''huge corporates'' rather than the ryots going to mandisor negotiating with small traders.

''The result is going to be that millions of peoplewho are employed by this agriculture system-- farmers,labourers, loaders, small traders-- all these people aregoing to be unemployed,'' he claimed.

''...they are trying to help 5-6 people closest to thePrime Minister and they are hurting the interest of millionsand millions of farmers,'' he said about the Centre.

Referring to the protesting farmers from Punjab andHaryana, Gandhi said ''the Prime Minister is calling themterrorists.'' ''So we are stopping these laws and protecting yourinterests. These are criminal laws against the farmers ofIndia...they are trying to replicate a failed model,'' Gandhiadded.

When a participant at the interaction explained thefarm laws, Gandhi quipped he would make a ''better agicultureminister,'' taking an apparent dig at incumbent NarendraSingh Tomar.

He alleged that farmers have no access to information''because information is purposely hidden from them.'' He charged the Central government with attacking thefoundation of the country-- labourers, workers, farmers andfishermen.

''And it is our duty to protect the interest ofworkers, farmers, fishermmen and weavers,'' Gandhi, who rode abullock cart to arrive here, said.

While there was no shortage of money in the country,it was not being given to the poor, he added.

He also flayed the Centre's earlier demonetisationand Goods and Services Tax (GST), wanting to know how manyfrom the crowd benefitted from them.

Earlier, at a roadshow in the district, Gandhiquestioned Centre's ''one language, one culture, one history''concept.

''So when Prime Minister Modi says one language, oneculture, one history, who is he insulting. What does he meanby one language, one culture, one history.'' ''Is Tamil not a language, do Tamil people don't havea history, culture. Who does he think he is to come and tellTamil people one language, one culture, one history. Who hasgiven him that right,'' Gandhi said.

Saying he was reading the Tamil classic Tirukkural,Gandhi said it mentioned about the Tamil spirit a 1000 yearsago.

''This positive attitude, self respect--I realised isnot something new..it is wedded in your history, language,food, everywhere and then I noticed that the Prime Ministerof this country does not respect this spirit.'' ''I do not think that the PM of this country has evenopened this book because if he had opened this book, he wouldunderstand that the only way to work with the Tamil people isto respect them, to love their language, to love theirculture. There is no other way to work with the Tamil spiritand Tamil culture than respecting it,'' he said.

Charging Modi with ''remote controlling'' the TamilNadu government, Gandhi asked why central agencies were notprobing corruption in the state.

''In every opposition (ruled)state, Prime MinisterModi uses the CBI and ED to attack the opposition. Why is theinvestigation into corruption in Tamil Nadu stopped.'' ''Why are the ED and CBI not investigating the ChiefMinister and government of Tamil Nadu. What has the ChiefMinister( K Palaniswami) of Tamil Nadu given Narendra Modi inexchange for this favour. That is the central question,'' hesaid.

Gandhi said that in the coming election the people ofTamil Nadu ''are going to take the battery out of the remotecontrol and throw it away,'' implying a new government will bein place.

''I am here to help you get a government that listensto the Tamil spirit, listens to poor people,'' Gandhi, whoseCongress is an ally of the MK Stalin-led DMK in the state,said.

Assembly elections are likely in Tamil Nadu byApril-May.

Gandhi further charged Modi with working for a selectfew industrialists.

''Narendra Modi works for five or six big industrialists.

Every thing he does is to help these five people improvetheir financial position. Demonesisation, GST, the way hebehaved during corona--everything is designed to help thosefive people,'' he alleged.

''The idea is to break the backbone of small and mediumbusinesses, break the backbone of Indian farmers and to makeIndian labourers slaves-- all to make these five or sixpeople happy,'' he claimed.

Lashing out at the RSS, he said its ideology was''anti-Tamil'' which is ''aimed at weakening the spirit of Tamilpeople.'' ''We will never allow it,'' he asserted.

Earlier, the Congress MP was accorded a rousingreception and he shook hands with many people who hadturned up to have a gimpse of him and also posed for pictureswith some.