Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Sunday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of wanting to "snatch" farmers' land and said his party would extend the fight against land acquisition to the states.
Addressing a farmers' rally in New Delhi, Gandhi said agricultural land was akin to a "mother" for farmers. He said the Congress' fight against the land acquisition bill was a fight for the farmers' future and their prestige.
Gandhi recounted that a farmer had told him that the land he tilled was like his own mother.
"He told me that (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi is not just snatching our land but our mother. He wants to snatch our mother and give it to someone else, please fight for us," said Gandhi, who has been taking on Modi at various rallies.
The Congress leader said Modi had said the government would allow the land ordinance to lapse. "But I know Modiji. What he really says he does not do.
Gandhi said while Modi had said he won't kill the earlier Congress land acquisition bill, he had told BJP chief ministers to go ahead with the contents of the bill that could not be passed in parliament in states.
"The fight (against land bill) has not ended. The fight is not for the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. This fight is for the Vidhan Sabha. The Congress will have to fight it in every state," he said.
Gandhi accused the Modi government of going back on the minimum support price for crops and not being there to help the farmers when their crops were destroyed by hailstorm earlier this year.
"I want to tell Modi (to) listen to the farmers, go to their homes, hold their hands and help them."
The NDA government had promulgated the land acquisition ordinance thrice but could not pass it in parliament.
The opposition has termed the bill anti-farmer and refused to allow its passage.
