Armed with data, Rahul ready to prove ‘Centre has lied about farmers’ deaths’

Calling Prime Minister Narendra Modi “immoral and cowardly”, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, on Friday (December 3), alleged that the Centre had “lied in Parliament” about not having any data on the farmers who died during the ongoing peasants’ agitation against the now-repealed farm laws. The former Congress president said that his party’s government in Punjab among the states worst-hit by the over year-long protest, had prepared a list of 403 farmers who had succumbed during the course of the agitation.

Gandhi said the Congress had also compiled two more lists through public sources detailing over 100 names of farmers from states other than Punjab who had lost their lives while protesting against the farm laws that were repealed by Parliament on November 29.

My interaction with members of the Press about the farmers’ crisis. https://t.co/9kfvhCNxER

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) December 3, 2021

Addressing media persons at the Congress headquarters, Gandhi said he would try to place the records of the over 500 dead farmers in the Lok Sabha on Monday (December 6) and urge the government to grant compensation to the next of kin of those who were “martyred due to a mistake made by the Prime Minister”.

Also read: No record of farmers deaths, no question of financial assistance: Govt

In a written response to the Lok Sabha on December 1, to questions on whether the government has records of farmers who had died during the ongoing agitation and planned to provide any financial assistance to the next of kin of the deceased, Union minister for agriculture and farmer welfare, Narendra Singh Tomar had said his ministry has “no record in the matter and hence the question (of granting financial aid) does not arise”. The government’s denial came amid claims by Opposition parties and the protesting farmers’ unions that over 700 peasants had lost their lives in the agitation that has been going on at Delhi’s borders since November 26 last years.

The Centre’s denial of data was akin to its earlier response of claiming it had no data of people who had died during the second wave of COVID last year owing to shortage of oxygen cylinders.

Trashing the government’s response, Gandhi claimed that the Punjab government had already identified 403 farmers who lost their lives during the protest and provided their kin compensation of ₹5 lakh while kin of 152 deceased farmers had also been given jobs by the Charanjit Singh Channi-led state government. “This list from Punjab is there, we also have 100 names of people from other states and a third list – all these are verifiable names and we even have the contact numbers of their kin. If the prime minister wants, he can personally call on these numbers and verify,” Gandhi said.

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The Congress MP from Wayanad, who has been consistently attacking the government for its perceived apathy towards the protesting peasants and Modi’s refusal to express solidarity with the kin of the deceased said, “the prime minister’s behaviour is unpleasant, immoral and cowardly… the prime minister admitted that he made a mistake and as a result of that mistake 700 farmers were martyred; all we are saying is that the government should pay compensation and help the families because this is all the prime minister’s mistake.”

The former Congress president said the government had adopted the same “approach of denial” on the COVID-19 deaths and alleged that while official records provided by the BJP-led Gujarat government had pegged the COVID death toll in the state at about 10,000, “our volunteers went from village to village and verified data – do you know how much the toll came to as per our records – nearly three lakh… now they (the government) have taken the same approach to deny the very existence of the farmers who died.”

On November 19, Modi had, in a broadcast to the nation, declared his government’s intent to repeal the controversial farm laws that had been bulldosed through Parliament last year amid vociferous protests by Opposition members. The laws were repealed on November 29, the first day of the ongoing winter session of Parliament, amid an uproar by the Opposition over the government’s refusal to debate the farm laws repeal Bill and issues related to the aftermath of the farmers’ agitation. Subsequently, in an unprecedented move, 12 Opposition MPs from five different parties were suspended from attending the winter session of Parliament for creating a ruckus during the August 11 proceeding of Rajya Sabha in the last session.

The repeal of the laws notwithstanding, agitating farmers have refused to end their protest for now. The Samyukt Kisan Morcha, an umbrella organisation of various farmers’ union, has put forth six demands to the Prime Minister as a prerequisite for ending their agitation.

 Also read: What is left to discuss or debate? asks Pralhad Joshi on repeal of farm laws

These include, among others, a statutory assurance for the government’s Minimum Support Price (MSP) guarantee, a memorial at the farmers’ protest site at Delhi’s Singhu border in remembrance of the 700 dead farmers, dropping penal provisions for prosecuting farmers involved with stubble burning and sacking Union minister of state (home affairs) Ajay Mishra from the Union cabinet. Mishra’s son was allegedly involved in the incident that occurred in UP’s Lakhimpur Kheri on October 3 where four peacefully protesting farmers were mowed down by his cavalcade.