Centre is anti-poor, anti-farmer: Congress

New Delhi, April 6: Describing the BJP-led tiol Democratic Alliance government as “anti-farmer and anti-poor”, the Congress on Monday accused it of undoing all the good work done by the erstwhile government.

Addressing a press conference here, Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh said the Land Acquisition Act 2013 was drafted after two-and-a-half-years of consultation with all political parties and some of the BJP leaders even wanted to take credit for it after the bill was passed and became a law. “We don’t have any problem with BJP leaders wanting credit for it but we want to ask why do they oppose it now,” he said, adding that “this shows their mind set towards farmers of the country”. Similarly the Food Security Act, passed during the United Progressive Alliance rule, is also being diluted and the poor are not given the grains that they deserve, he said.

“By offering money instead of grains would not solve their problems,” Singh said, adding that the poor farmer or labourer would first try to repay the loan he must have taken if gets money from the government instead of buying grains. The Congress leader also criticised the central government for setting up the Shanta Kumar Committee on the Food Security Act. The setting up of the committee was just an eyewash by the central government to dilute the poor-friendly act.

The Mahatma Gandhi tiol Rural Employment Guarantee Act was also not being implemented properly and poor farmers and labourers were suffering, Singh said. He said he keeps hearing about the problems of the people from Congress-ruled states due to all these activities of the central government. “This shows their mind set... they are anti-farmer and anti-poor and work only for the elite.” Touching upon the controversy over the central government organising a conference of chief justices of high courts and chief ministers on Good Friday, the Congress leader said the conference could have been organised on some other day. (IANS)