Rahul Gandhi demands compensation for families of dead farmers

Keeping the spotlight on the farm issue ahead of state polls, Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday made a pitch in Lok Sabha for compensation for family members of farmers killed during farm as he maintained that nearly 700 farmers died during the agitation.

“Not giving compensation and jobs in the name of martyred farmers and not withdrawing police cases against Annadata will be blunders. After all how many times, the Prime Minister will apologize,” Gandhi tweeted after having raised the issue in a Zero Hour mention in the lower House.

“If Modi govt is saying that no farmer has been martyred or they do not have their names, then here is a list of their names. I think families of martyred farmers should get compensation and employment, it is their right,” he said in the Lok Sabha presenting a list, which had details of the farmers who lost their lives during farmer agitation.

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After he hit out at the central government for its alleged inability to maintain a date on the death of farmers, his party members walked out of the House along with NCP and DMK members, shouting slogans against the government.

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While Gandhi made a pitch for compensation and jobs to the next of kin of farmers who died during the agitation, his party colleagues sought a statement from the government on the issue.

“Around 700 farmers died in farmers’ agitation. On November 30, the agriculture minister was asked a question - ‘how many farmers died in the agitation? Agriculture minister said he had no data. We found out that the Punjab government has paid compensation of Rs five lakh each to more than 400 farmers. Of these 400 farmers, 152 have also been given jobs. I have one more list of 70 farmers from Haryana. These are the names here,” Gandhi said.

“I asked questions in Parliament on agrarian injustice -- Will the farmers who died get compensation? Is the government considering doing something on MSP? How did Covid affect agriculture? "They did not answer the first two questions and answered the third -- 'Farming continued smoothly during the pandemic!' What a joke!" Gandhi said in another tweet.

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