New Delhi, Jan 5 After backing the farmers' stir from a distance, the Congress leaders are now holding special programmes in support of the agitation as the party's frontal organisations start to active participation.
Navprabhat, the former minister in the erstwhile Congress government in Uttarakhand has been organizing agitations in Vikasnagar. He said, "This time the Modi government has done a blunder, and not only the farmers but small traders will also suffer because of the farm laws. This year there was low procurement of paddy. Where will the farmers go? The party has an opportunity to turn the agitation into a pan India stir."
Apart from individual efforts, the Congress student wing the NSUI started a cycle rally from Jaipur to Delhi in support of farmers, which will reach the Delhi border on Tuesday.
Speaking to the media, NSUI chief Neeraj Kundan said, "Our march is for the rights of the farmers and we stand in solidarity and give all our support to the ongoing farmer's movement against the farm laws."
Former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has announced that the Congress MLAs will give compensation from their personal pockets to the families of those farmers who lost their lives during the stir.
After the seventh round of talks failed to yield any result, the Congress is now coming out openly in support of the agitating farmers. Prior to this, the Congress had announced its moral support to the farmers though Rahul Gandhi led the farmers' agitation in Punjab and also led delegation of the opposition and the Congress to the President seeking his intervention in the issue.
While the party insiders say that the Congress should have given all out support to the farmers' stir including participation in the agitation, the consensus, however, emerged that this may turn the stir into a political battle.
The talks between the farmer unions and the government ended without any breakthrough on Monday. The next meeting will take place on January 8.
miz/dpb
( With inputs from IANS )
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