Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge, the new leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, on Saturday said opposing the government’s policies just for the sake of doing so was not his style of functioning, reported PTI.
“We are not opposing the government just for the sake of opposition,” he told the news agency. “We oppose the government’s wrong policies affecting the common man.”
He also said that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had asked him to highlight the problems faced by the poor. “We raise the issues [in Parliament] not to become famous,” Kharge said. “We take up the issues affecting the poor. Somebody should talk.”
Kharge, who took over as the leader of the Opposition earlier this week after Ghulam Nabi Azad retired, also raised the matter of the farmers’ protest against the three farm laws. He demanded that the legislations be withdrawn.
He urged the government to make fresh proposals after withdrawing the laws and refer them to a parliamentary standing committee for scrutiny. Kharge said that following his appointment as the leader of the Opposition, the Congress will continue to focus on the farm law protests and corner the government on various points raised by the farmers’ union, reported the Hindustan Times.
“The farmers have been agitating against the new farm laws for the past few months and demanding that they be withdrawn as it abolishes the MSP [minimum support price] and the Mandi system,” he said. “We are all supporting their demand. The government has failed to satisfy the farmers, the major stakeholders while bringing in these laws and should withdraw them.”
The Congress leader also alleged that the violence during a tractor rally on Republic Day was a conspiracy planned by the government and aimed at denting the spirit of the protesting farmers. Kharge claimed that the government was using terms like “Khalistanis” and “Pakistanis” with a motive to divide the agitating farmers’ unions.
Kharge also criticised the government over the increase in fuel prices. “Petrol prices are at an all-time high, while international crude oil prices have touched a record low,” he said. “By hiking prices day by day, the central government is doing a great injustice to the people of this country.”
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