Hardeep Singh Puri tweeted footage showing Rahul Gandhi apparently sitting on cushions
New Delhi:
Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri glanced at Rahul Gandhi today at footage showing the Congress leader seated on what appear to be padded seats on a tractor during a rally at the Punjab to protest the center’s controversial agricultural laws.
Mr Puri, who is the Minister of Civil Aviation, tweeted “the upholstered sofas on the tractors are not a protest” and repeated the BJP line – that the congressional “protest” is an attempt to “cheat our farmers “.
“The ‘protest’ launched by Congress is a political protest from those whose vested interests are harmed by farm bills. The upholstered sofas on the tractors are not a protest … it is ‘protest tourism’ to lead our farmers astray, who are educated and smart enough to see through this facade, ”Mr Puri tweeted.
On Sunday, Gandhi launched a three-day tractor rally in Moga, Punjab, to protest agriculture-related laws that fear farmers will deprive them of a minimum support price and public markets. their products, and expose them to exploitation by private companies.
“Their only goal (of the BJP) is to destroy the MSP and the food supply. The country knows that Indian farmers, farmers in Punjab and Haryana cannot survive without MSP. Congress will never let this government do it, “he said yesterday. .
Footage from the rally showed Mr Gandhi seated on what appear to be cream-colored cushions on one side of the tractor driver, while the Chief Minister of Punjab, Amarinder Singh, was seated on the other side.
Lakhs of farmers across the country – and particularly in Punjab and Haryana – took to the streets and blocked highways and railroads to underline their dissatisfaction with the legislation.
The government has claimed that the new laws – passed last month amid chaos in parliament – will help farmers by allowing them to sell their produce at markets and prices they choose.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given several verbal assurances that neither the MSP nor the public procurement will be stopped, but farmers are still not convinced.
Meanwhile, in another tweet earlier today, Mr Puri also got a glimpse in Congress over the tractor fire near the India Gate in central Delhi this week. last in a demonstration on agricultural laws, for which the Punjab Youth Congress took responsibility.
“When informed critics hit the target, attempts are made to shoot the messenger. Anyone who knows our farmers will know that farmers who work hard on their land will never burn their tractors. The tractor was not burnt by the farmers, it was burned by the morons of Congress. ,” he said.
