Headlines
Centre is anti-poor, anti-farmer: Congress
New Delhi, April 6
Describing the BJP-led
National Democratic Alliance government as "anti-farmer and anti-poor",
the Congress on Monday accused it of undoing all the good work done by
the erstwhile government.
Addressing a press conference here,
Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh said the Land Acquisition Act
2013 was drafted after two-and-a-half-years of consultation with all
political parties and some of the BJP leaders even wanted to take credit
for it after the bill was passed and became a law.
"We don't
have any problem with BJP leaders wanting credit for it but we want to
ask why do they oppose it now," he said, adding that "this shows their
mind set towards farmers of the country".
Similarly the Food
Security Act, passed during the United Progressive Alliance rule, is
also being diluted and the poor are not given the grains that they
deserve, he said.
"By offering money instead of grains would not
solve their problems," Singh said, adding that the poor farmer or
labourer would first try to repay the loan he must have taken if gets
money from the government instead of buying grains.
The Congress leader also criticised the central government for setting up the Shanta Kumar Committee on the Food Security Act.
The setting up of the committee was just an eyewash by the central government to dilute the poor-friendly act.
The
Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act was also not
being implemented properly and poor farmers and labourers were
suffering, Singh said.
He said he keeps hearing about the
problems of the people from Congress-ruled states due to all these
activities of the central government. "This shows their mind set... they
are anti-farmer and anti-poor and work only for the elite."
Touching
upon the controversy over the central government organising a
conference of chief justices of high courts and chief ministers on Good
Friday, the Congress leader said the conference could have been
organised on some other day.
"Would the Modi government organise such a conference on Diwali or Dussehra," he asked.