New Delhi/Saharanpur, (Samajweekly) Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will hold a series of ‘kisan sabhas’ in western Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday to intensify the protest against the three Central farm laws.
According to party sources, Priyanka will hold the first such meeting in Saharanpur’s Chilkana area. Besides, Saharanpur, she will be visiting Muzaffarnagar and Shamli districts to attend a ‘mahapanchayat’. The Congress General Secretary will then hold similar ‘kisan sabhas’ in Meerut and Bijnor on Saturday.
Sources added that the Congress will organise ‘jai jawan jai kisan’ programmes in each tehsil of western UP’s 27 districts. The party is also mulling to hold chaupals across these districts in the next ten days to discuss the drawbacks of the farm laws.
The party has also prepared an audio visual tape and will be distributing pamphlets highlighting the farmers’ plight.
All the Congress leaders have been roped in including former state chiefs of the party — Salman Khurshid, Raj Babbar and Nirmal Khatri, to join the yatra.
Party sources said that all the leaders have been asked for their active participation. Leaders like Navjot Singh Sidhu, Randeep Surjewala and Meem Afzal will also be a part of the programme. Hardik Patel, working president of the Gujarat Congress, will also join the programme.
The party’s aim is to connect with all the communities and take the farmers’ issue to the people and also garner support.
A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi appealed to the farmers to end their agitation, Congress Rajya Sabha member Mallikarjun Kharge on Tuesday said: “We expected that he would discuss something on the three farm laws that has triggered protest, continuing for the last 75 days.”
According to Naresh Saini, Congress MLA from Behat in Saharanpur, “During her visit, Priyanka will offer prayers at the Shakumbhari Mata temple and also visit a shrine. Later, she will hold a kisan sabha in the Chilkana area.”
Priyanka’s Saharanpur visit was earlier scheduled for February 8, but permission was denied by the local administration.
“The venue was later shifted outside the city limits,” Saini said.
Priyanka had recently visited Rampur, where she met the family members of Navreet Singh, a farmer who died during the tractor rally violence in Delhi on Republic Day.
