Mandsaur anniversary: Rahul to participate in protest in MP

Congress president Rahul Gandhi will participate in a protest at Mandsaur in Madhya Pradesh where six farmers were killed in alleged police firing last year.

"In our country, 35 farmers commit suicide everyday. Farmers have been forced to hold 10-day agitation against Central government's failure to address the agrarian distress. While standing with farmers in their fight for justice, I will address a farmers rally in Mandsaur on June 6, Gandhi wrote on Twitter.

Congress's communications in-charge Randeep Surjewala said the government's apathy towards farmers had led to a nation-wide stir from June 1 to 10.

The Modi government's uncaring, insensitive, apathetic and thick-skinned attitude to the issues raised by 62 per cent of India's population - farmers - has precipitated into a nationwide protest by our 'Annadata'.

The all-India protest by lakhs of farmers from June 1 to 10 to observe the first anniversary of the Mandsaur shooting is a direct affirmation of the 'anti-farmer' policies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he said in a statement.

Congress President Rahul Gandhi will be in Mandsaur to observe the first death anniversary of the six farmers that were brutally killed in police shooting, but the BJP-led Madhya Pradesh government in sheer desperation is trying to suppress the protests by using illegal means, the Congress leader said.

Surjewala said the dejected farmers were resigning to their fate, fleeing farms and aspiring for other jobs because the BJP had completely failed them.

They are forced to throw their produce on the streets or distribute it for free as they are not getting fair prices for it. They have announced that they will not sell their produce in mandis in cities, he said.