Congress MPs from Punjab and Haryana stage dharna, demand convening of Parliament session

New Delhi: On the eve of the Bharat Bandh called by the agitating farmers, the Opposition has upped its ante with Congress MPs from Punjab and Haryana staging a dharna in New Delhi demanding the convening of an immediate Parliament session to repeal the contentious farm laws. The Congress has hit back at the Centre’s charge of “double standards” against the Opposition and dismissed it a case of “thief crying theft” (chor machaaye shor).

The AICC has sent out advisories to all state Congress units to carry out symbolic protests at state and districts headquarters to express solidarity with the farmers. “We fully support the December 8 peaceful Bharat Bandh in support of our farmers. Any injustice and exploitation of annadada will not be tolerated. The Adani-Ambani farm laws have to be revoked,” Rahul Gandhi tweeted.

Congress MPs from Punjab and Haryana including Preneet Kaur, Manish Tewari, Ravneet Bittu, Gurjeet Aujla, Amar Singh, Mohammad Sadique and Deepender Hooda staged a dharna in New Delhi.


The main opposition party hit back at senior BJP ministers who were accusing the Congress and UPA leaders of adopting “double-standards” in opposing the farm laws. Asking PM Modi to scrap the farm laws rather than fielding “an agricultural minister who has no farm lands” and “a law minister who can’t handle a plough ” to target the opposition, AICC spokesperson Randeep Surjewala taunted the Law Minister by saying: “Ravishankar Prasad ji, what you are saying can be termed as a case of a “thief crying theft”. It is the Modi government that has brought anti-farmer ordinance under the cover of darkness. It is the Modi government that has rammed through in Parliament the anti-farmer bills by voice vote. It is the Modi government that has mortgaged the farmlands to its capitalist friends. Still you blame the Congress?” he tweeted in Hindi.

Punjab Congress president Sunil Jakhar said the Centre alone was responsible for the bandh, protests and inconvenience it may cause to the people. “The responsibility lies squarely with the Centre, which refused to engage the farmers before passing the laws and also rode roughshod on the Opposition when it tried to reason against the farm bills in the last session of Parliament. Only by repealing these laws through a special parliament session can the situation be defused,” he said.

With more MLAs belonging to the state BJP government’s ally JJP in Haryana coming out in support of the farmers’ protest, Congress Opposition leader BS Hooda appealed to all those who cared for the welfare of farmers to back the Bharat Bandh. Many feel the outcome of Wednesday’s government-farmer talk could have a bearing on the future of the Khattar government.