Rahul-led Cong team meets Prez Kovind; Priyanka, others detained

A three-member Congress delegation including Rahul Gandhi, met President Ram Nath Kovind on Thursday (December 24) and submitted a memorandum containing 2 crore signatures seeking his intervention to withdraw the three new farm laws over which thousands of farmers have been protesting in Delhi for the past 29 days.

The official Twitter account of the Rashtrapati Bhavan shared an image of the Congress leaders meeting Kovind, and wrote, “A delegation from the Indian National Congress comprising Shri Ghulam Nabi Azad, Shri Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and Shri Rahul Gandhi called on President Kovind at Rashtrapati Bhavan.”

After meeting the president, Rahul said, “I want to tell the prime minister that these farmers are not going to go back home until these farm laws are repealed. The government should convene a joint session of parliament and take back these laws. Opposition parties stand with farmers and labourers.”

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“We told the president that the laws are anti-farmer and that farmers and labourers will suffer due to them. The government said these laws are in favour of the farmers, but the country is seeing that farmers are against these laws … We three people went to the president, but took the voice of farmers to the president, by taking 2 crore signatures of farmers,” he added.

He hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and alleged that anyone trying to take power from him will be dubbed as anti-national.

“Anyone trying to take power from PM Modi will be dubbed as anti-national… there is no democracy in India, it is only in imagination, not in reality,” the MP from Kerala’s Wayanad, alleged.

Further, he said those who stand against PM Modi, be it farmers, labourers or even RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, will be labelled as a “terrorist”.

“PM Modi is making money for the crony capitalists. Whoever will try to stand against him will be called terrorist – be it farmers, labourers and even Mohan Bhagwat,” he alleged.

Only three Congress leaders – Rahul, Ghulam Nabi Azad and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury were allowed to meet the president, while Rahul’s sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and several others were taken into custody by Delhi Police as they stopped them from marching towards the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

“Any dissent against this government is classified as having elements of terror. We are undertaking this march to voice our support for the farmers,” Priyanka said.

“We’re living in democracy and they are elected MPs. They have the right to meet the president and they should be allowed. What is problem with that? The government is not ready to listen to voices of lakhs of farmers camping at borders,” she added.

She called the government “sinner”. “It is a sin to use the kind of names they (BJP leaders and supporters) used for farmers. If the government is calling them anti-nationals, then the government is a sinner.”