Cong hits out at Modi govt over police action against farmers

The Congress Tuesday lashed out at the Modi government over the police action against farmers marching towards Delhi, saying "the Baadshah in the Delhi Sultanate is drunk with power".

Condemning the police action, Congress spokesman Randeep Singh Surjewala said if the Centre can write off huge debt of a few industrialists why it could not waive the loans of farmers.

He criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi, alleging that "arrogance has gone to his head".

"Instead of hearing them out, farmers are brutalised and beaten up. The Baadshah in the Delhi Sultanate is drunk with power," the Congress leader alleged.

He was talking to reporters at the venue of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting here in Maharashtra.

Thousands of farmers Tuesday marched towards Delhi over demands ranging from farm loan waiver to cut in fuel prices, blocking traffic movement on arterial roads leading to the national capital.

The farmers, riding tractors and trolleys, broke barricades of the Uttar Pradesh (UP) Police and then started proceeding towards the barricades put up by the Delhi Police, a senior police officer said.

They were stopped at the Delhi-UP border with police using water cannons and tear gas to disperse them.

Surjewala said, "If the Modi government can write off Rs 3.17 lakh crore debt of a few industrialists, why can't he write off loans of 62 crore farmers."