‘Are 60% Indians terrorists?’ — Rahul Gandhi slams Kangana Ranaut over tweet on farmers
Politics

‘Are 60% Indians terrorists?’ — Rahul Gandhi slams Kangana Ranaut over tweet on farmers

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, speaking at a press conference Wednesday, also criticised the Modi govt's budget, saying it catered to just 'one per cent of the population'.

   
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi at the press conference Wednesday | Manisha Mondal/ThePrint

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi at the press conference, on 3 February 2021 | Photo: Manisha Mondal | ThePrint

New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi Wednesday slammed actor Kangana Ranaut over her tweet terming farmers as terrorists. 

Ranaut had Tuesday responded to singer Rihanna’s tweet about the ongoing farmers’ protest in India, by saying “No one is talking about it because they are not farmers they are terrorists who are trying to divide India…”

 

Gandhi, in response to a question from the media on the tweet, said farmers make for 60 per cent of the country’s population and aren’t terrorists.

Aapka kehna hai jo is desh me kheti karta hai woh aatankwaadi hai? Matlab desh ke 60 percent log aatankwaadi hai? Sirf RSS ke log aatankwaadi nahi hai, baaki sab aaatankwadi hai? (Are you saying that those who do farming are terrorists? So 60 per cent of the people in this country are terrorists? Only RSS people aren’t terrorists, everyone else is?),” Gandhi asked.

Yeh kisaan hai, apna haq maang rahe hain (These are farmers and they are demanding their rights),” he added.

Gandhi was speaking at a press conference organised by the Congress at the party headquarters on 24, Akbar Road. He said farmers are being labelled terrorists only for fighting for their rights.

“It’s simple. You are taking away what is rightfully theirs and giving it to 5-7 of your friends,” Gandhi added. “Just like you made every industry of the country a monopoly, you are doing the same to farmers. They are fighting back, and so you are calling them terrorists.”

On Tuesday, there was controversy after Rihanna shared a CNN article about internet restrictions around various parts of the national capital due to the farmers’ protests. “why aren’t we talking about this?! #FarmersProtest,” she had tweeted.

Budget ‘only for 1% of the population’

Gandhi, in his press conference, also criticised the budget that was presented by the Modi government on 1 February. He said the budget was “only for 1 per cent of the population” and not for the remaining 99 per cent — including small and medium business owners, farmers and military personnel.

“China enters India & grabs our land. What message do you give them in the budget? That we won’t increase our defence expenditure,” the Congress leader said. “You raised it by Rs 3,000-4,000 crore. What message did you give? That you can enter India & do whatever you want and we won’t support our defence forces.”

“What would they (defence forces) be thinking right now? That we have such a big problem in front of us, and the government is not giving money to the forces,” he added.


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