Will stand firm against Land Bill: Sonia Gandhi

NEEMUCH: Congress will stand firm against the " anti-farmer" Land Acquisition Bill and continue to protest against it, party president Sonia Gandhi said today, reaffirming her commitment to the cause of the farmers.

"The current Land Bill is anti-farmer. We will strongly protest it and are firm on it," Sonia, who had been leading the Opposition onslaught against the legislation said.

"At present Congress is not in power but the party will struggle for them (farmers) and will not compromise on the issue," she asserted.

The Congress president damanded that the land acquisition law enacted by the erstwhile UPA government and supported by the BJP in 2013 be implemented.

Sonia, who visited a number of villages battered by unseasonal rains and hailstorms that led to large-scale destruction of crops in Madhya Pradesh, demanded that the BJP governments at the Centre and the state help the farmers without any discrimination.

"I ask the (Narendra) Modi and Shivraj Singh Chouhan governments not to discriminate and help the farmers," she told reporters after surveying the damaged crops and meeting farmers in Neemuch district.

Empathising with those in distress, she alleged,"The farmers have suffered a lot and till date neither survey of affected fields has been done nor have they got any compensation."

The Congress president walked half-a-kilometre in the ravaged fields to see for herself the devastation caused to standing crops at Madavada village.

"Though we do not have a government in Madhya Pradesh, we are with you. We will fight for your rights and ensure that you get due compensation," she assured the farmers during an interaction with them.

Farmers also showed her the ravaged Isabgol (psyllium husk) and other crops and narrated their ordeal.

In the morning, she met the affected farmers in about a dozen villages.