Extending support to protesting farmers in the national capital, the non-National Democratic Alliance (NDA) parties in Jharkhand--Congress, JMM, RJD and Left front--on Wednesday organised a day-long sit-in protest outside Raj Bhawan in Ranchi, demanding the Centre to withdraw the three controversial farm laws.
This comes a few days after a nationwide strike, or Bharat Bandh, was held on Monday following a call by one of the farmers’ bodies to mark the first anniversary of the three controversial farm laws getting Presidential assent.
The sit-in protest on Wednesday was organised by the Congress as part of the direction from the central leadership in continuation of the virtual meeting done by party president Sonia Gandhi with like-minded parties.
The participating leaders from across the political spectrum underlined that the farm laws were against the interest of farmers, and the Centre would have to ultimately withdraw them or leave.
“In a democracy, this is the only righteous way to make our demands heard. Ultimately, more and more people would add weight to our words and they (Centre) will have to act, or else people would throw them out of power,” said Congress legislature party leader Alamgir Alam.
On a specific question if their protest would make any impact, state Congress president Rajesh Thakur said, “It might take some time, but we will continue to raise our demand together. Ultimately, the Centre would have to budge. We were four parties together when we brought down the Raghubar Das goverment in 2019; now, 19 of us are together. We will throw them out of power even at the Centre in 2024,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}On a specific question if their protest would make any impact, state Congress president Rajesh Thakur said, “It might take some time, but we will continue to raise our demand together. Ultimately, the Centre would have to budge. We were four parties together when we brought down the Raghubar Das goverment in 2019; now, 19 of us are together. We will throw them out of power even at the Centre in 2024,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}Hitting out at the BJP government, JMM principal general secretary Supriyo Bhattacharya said their effort is to upset the incumbent “corporate power” in 2024. “This is just the beginning. We will soon be meeting again and chalk out a future course of action,” he said.
JMM women’s wing president, Mahua Majhi, said the government cannot ignore the demands of farmers, as they make the backbone of the Indian economy.