NEW DELHI: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday while speaking in the Lok Sabha said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given three options; hunger, unemployment and suicide to farmers amid repeated requests by Speaker Om Birla to restrict his speech to Budget.
“Yesterday the PM in his speech said Opposition is talking of agitation but not on intent and content of farm laws. So I thought let me make him happy and talk about content and intent of farm Bills.”
The farmers issue is also a budget issue so respect them, he said.
“The content of the first law is to destroy ‘mandis’, the content of the second law is to make hoarding unlimited and the content of the third law is that when a farmer asks for his rights from corporate he will not be allowed to do so,” Rahul Gandhi said amid uproar from Treasury Benches.
Earlier there was slogan “hum do hamare do”, “now it is the government of hum do humare do, you know who”, he said in apparent reference to corporates Adani and Ambani.
Quoting rules, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Arjun Meghwal said Rahul Gandhi should restrict to Budget. He also challenged Rahul Gandhi to prove the basis of his claims on Adani and Ambani.
Is Budget not agriculture issue, why it cannot be discussed, questioned Leader of Congress Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury amid uproar in the House on Rahul Gandhi’s charges.
“Hum do hamare do….you remember those cute faces… beautiful faces… Let me tell what will happen when these laws are enacted, small farmers and traders will be wiped out and only ‘hum do hamare do’ will run the country,” he said.
“Rural economy will be destroyed and this country will not be able to generate employment. This is not the first time he has tried ‘hum do humare do’, PM Modi first did it with demonetisation and then GST, Gabbar Singh Tax,” Rahul Gandhi said.
When repeatedly asked to speak on Union Budget, Rahul Gandhi said he is building foundation for that.
“You have broken the spinal cord of the country. Do not think it is farmers’ agitation it is the agitation of the entire country,” he said.
“Farmers are showing way to the country which is rising against ‘hum do hamare do’,” he said.
“Let me give you in writing, farmers will not move back an inch, you will have to take back the three laws,” Rahul Gandhi said.
“Will not speak on Budget, I will only speak on farmers’ issue and then go quite,” he said.
“I want to keep a two minute silence for farmers who lost their lives,” he said, amid constant shouting.
To this Om Birla said the responsibility of running the House is with him.
“Tomorrow someone will get up and say he wants to pay respect to jawans killed on border or those killed in Uttrakhand tragedy. Let me run the House,” Birla said.
Intervening, Union minister Anurag Thakur said he hoped that that a senior leader (like Rahul Gandhi) will know about rules of the House.
“I understand he (Rahul Gandhi) is not prepared well for his Budget speech. But then some people spend less time in House and also the country…I believe he is again going,” Thakur said.
“There is hope for new, self-reliant India in this Budget. There are those who will always find faults in good things,” said Thakur.
“Some people have always done politics on poverty, which a poor mother’s son has tried to change,” he said.
“Where is it written that Rahul Gandhi, who lost from Amethi, can fight from Wayanad but Amethi farmers cannot go and sell their produce in Wayanad,” asked Anurag Thakur.
Amid allegations flying around in the House about members of Gandhi family (Robert Vadra) usurping land in Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, Anurag Thakur said he does not want to name any family but it is shameful what happened in the House today.