Rahul Gandhi 'trolled' for 2015 farm speech

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's speech on Amethi Food Park circulates on social media. In 2015, Gandhi said that the farmers should be allowed to sell their produce directly to the companies.

New Delhi:Congress leader Rahul Gandhi told the Lok Sabha in 2015 that the farmers should be allowed to sell their produce directly to the companies, contradicting his current stand on the new farm laws where he has been sternly slamming the Centre to revoke the "anti-farm laws".

Gandhi's speech in Lok Sabha, 2015, when he was an MP from Uttar Pradesh's Amethi, is doing rounds on the social media while people have been trolling him for his "contradictory" statement.

The now Wayanad MP is slamming the Central government to withdraw the farm laws that have given the freedom to every farmer in the country to sell their produce anywhere.

"A few years ago when I was in Uttar Pradesh, a farmer came to me and asked to explain something...he said that the farmers sell potato for Rs 2 per kilogram but when their children buy a packet of chips, that costs Rs 10 consisting of one potato. The farmer asked me to explain what kind of magic is it?" said Gandhi during his speech in Lok Sabha.

"I asked the farmer as to what do they think is the reason behind it. To this he said, if the farmers were able to sell their produce directly to the factories, which are far away from them, then the middlemen will not be benefitted and the farmers will get the entire amount," he added.

The Congress leader further asserted that this is the "thinking" behind the food park.

"This is a fight of the farmers and labourers from a few districts of Amethi and Uttar Pradesh," he added.

A mega food park had reportedly been proposed to be set up in the Amethi district.

Netizens of Twitter have widely shared Gandhi's speech delivered in 2015 Lok Sabha session, trolling him for his 'contradictory' statements over Centre's farm laws.

"Rahul Gandhi himself said in the Parliament that farmers should get a chance to sell their produce directly to companies. Rahul Gandhi, the farm laws are giving this opportunity to the farmers. So why do you have an objection now?" people Tweeted.

The Congress MP is now sternly opposing Centre's new farm laws.

The three laws will increase the price of farmers produce and investment in the agriculture sector, the Centre has repeatedly asserted.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also assured every farmer that the system of providing minimum support price (MSP) will continue as earlier.

The Wayanad MP had recently hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the issue of MSP and Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) Act and also urged citizens to support the protests led by farmers.

"The farmer of Bihar is in great trouble without MSP-APMC and now the PM has pushed the entire country into this well. In such a situation, it is our duty to support the provider of the country," he had tweeted.

The Congress leader has also attacked the Union government over the issue of farm income in the country, saying that NDA government wants the average farmers' income in the country to drop down to the level of income being earned by farmers in Bihar.

Citing government data from 2013, the Congress leader tweeted: "The farmers of the country want their income to be on par with farmers of Punjab. The Modi government wants the income of all the farmers of the country to be as much as the farmers of Bihar."

On December 24, Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi, Ghulam Nabi Azad and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury visited Rashtrapati Bhavan and told him that the laws are "anti-farmer".

The farmers have been protesting since last month at the Singhu border against the Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020, and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020. They are demanding the repeal of the three laws.

(ANI)