Congress agitation for recall of farms Bills; joint Opposition appeal to President

NEW DELHI: The All India Congress Committee (AICC) has announced a three-phase national agitation from September 24 which will culminate with the presentation of two crore signatures to the President of India, demanding the recall of the contentious farms legislation brought by the Modi government.

This was announced even as the Congress and 15 other Opposition parties held a dharna outside the Parliament Complex on Monday against the controversial manner of the passages of these Bills in the Rajya Sabha and the suspension of eight Opposition MPs. These parties sought time to meet the President failing which a joint memorandum has been readied to be sent to the Rashtrapati Bhavan, seeking the recall of the Bills.

After holding a meeting of the AICC general secretaries and in-charges by the steering committee members at the Congress headquarters, senior leader AK Antony announced, “Anti-farmer Bills have been passed by this government by breaking all the rules and conventions of the Rajya Sabha. The Congress will start a national agitation against these legislations and demand the recall of these Bills from 24, September”.

Ahmed Patel said, “The signals of this government moving towards dictatorship have come from the experiences during this Parliament session. The government is hitting at the democratic system and is trying to silence the Opposition while passing Bills which are against the interests of farmers, workers, the states and the federal structure”.

AICC general secretaries KC Venugopal and Randeep Singh Surjewala said the Congress workers, leaders and legislators will stage demonstrations against these Bills at the headquarters of states, districts and villages on September 24 and memoranda will be presented to the respective governors.

October 2, the birth anniversaries of Gandhi and Lal Bahadur Shastri, will be observed as “Save Farmers-Workers Day”. Two crore signatures, seeking the recall of the legislations will be submitted to the President on November 14, the birth anniversary of Nehru.

The signatories to the joint Opposition memorandum to the President are the Congress, DMK, TMC, NCP, Shiv Sena, TRS, SP, RJD, CPM, CPI, LJD, JD(S), IUML, AAP and KCM.