PM Modi weakening India by attacking farmers: Rahul Gandhi

Congress hit out at the Centre on Friday over the farmers' protest against the new farm laws, with former party president Rahul Gandhi alleging that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was "weakening" India by "attacking" farmers.

The remarks by Gandhi came a day after the Congress alleged that the government was trying to divide and intimidate the farmers to break their protest against the three laws.

"PM is weakening India by attacking our farmers and workers. Only anti-national forces will benefit," Gandhi tweeted.

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also slammed the government over the issue.

"Farmers' trust is the country's capital. Breaking their trust is a crime. Not listening to their voice is a sin," Priyanka Gandhi tweeted. "Threatening and intimidating them is grave sin. Attack on farmers is an attack on the country."

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"Mr Prime Minister, do not weaken the country," she added.

Thousands of farmers, mostly from Haryana, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh, have been protesting at several border points into Delhi since November-end, demanding repeal of the three laws and a legal guarantee to the minimum support system for their crops.

Enacted last September, the three laws have been projected by the Centre as major reforms in the agriculture sector that will remove middlemen and allow farmers to sell their produce anywhere in the country.

However, the protesting farmers have expressed their apprehension that the new laws would pave the way for eliminating the safety cushion of the MSP and do away with the wholesale market system, leaving them at the mercy of big corporates.