Farmers protest: Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot and ministers to stage dharna for farmers today

Rajasthan Chief minister Ashok Gehlot, along with all his ministers, Congress MLAs and others supporting his government have promised to stage a dharna at the Shaheed Smarak in Jaipur in support of the farmers protesting the Centre’s three controversial farm laws on Sunday (January 3).

The dharna is also being organised to protest against Governor Kalraj Mishra failing to forward the state’s three amendment bills passed by the assembly to counter the Centre’s farm laws to President Ramnath Kovind for approval.

PCC chief Govind Singh Dotasra on Thursday said that if the Centre fails to withdraw its three farm laws by January 4, the ministers and MLAs would run a weeklong campaign, ‘Bharat Bachao, Kisan Bachao’, to highlight Modi-government’s anti-farmer policies across villages and hamlets in Rajasthan from January 5 to 11.

“As long as farmers are not their priority, but big industrialists are, this issue cannot be resolved. Adani ji (industrialist) has already given an ad in support of these laws and has written against the farmers’ protest. For the past four years he has been building high-tech godowns and has signed an MoU with the FCI. This shows that the big industrialists are too eager to buy farmers’ crops. The three Union laws are a part of that conspiracy,” Dotasra said earlier this week.

“Farmers are fighting to save their livelihood, but the Centre has neither the vision nor the willingness to help them. Congress held ‘Kisan Sanvad’ with farmers in the state from December 28 to 30,” he added.

The Congress state president, who is also the school education minister, said, “Even if the fight continues for long, we will protest until these laws are withdrawn. We will lay down our lives, but the Congress under Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi will not abandon the farmers. The Congress will not rest till the farmers are freed from these black laws.”

The decision that the Rajasthan Congress would protest in support of the farmers was taken at a Cabinet meeting held at the CM residence late on Wednesday night. On being asked how the Cabinet could decide about the party’s functions, PCC chief Govind Singh Dotasra clarified on Thursday that the decision to protest was taken by the party and not by the government.