In a bold challenge to the central government, the Congress party has called for a grand farmers’ assembly in Bhopal on February 24. Top leaders Rahul Gandhi, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, and party president Mallikarjun Kharge will address the gathering, railing against the India-US trade agreement they deem disastrous for Indian agriculture.
Party spokespersons revealed plans for thousands of aggrieved farmers to highlight the perils of the deal. Harish Chaudhary, the state overseer, recounted historical US sanctions during 1965 and 1971 wars that starved India of food supplies, only overcome by the Green Revolution. ‘This trade pact risks repeating that nightmare,’ he cautioned, pointing to threats from imported soybeans hitting farmers’ incomes and cotton imports undermining self-sufficiency.
Jitu Patwari, Madhya Pradesh Congress chief, declared farming as the nation’s spine, never compromised post-independence until now. He slammed Modi for betraying farmers to American interests, kickstarting protests with events in Budhni and Vidisha. ‘This isn’t trade; it’s an insult to our toiling farmers,’ Patwari asserted.
Umang Singhar, opposition leader in the assembly, decried the deal as anti-national, suspecting ulterior motives amid US support for Pakistan. With domestic farmers still struggling, flooding markets with US goods spells ruin.
This Bhopal showdown marks the ignition of a pan-India farmer uprising, as Congress mobilizes to safeguard India’s agrarian heartland from global trade pitfalls.