NEW DELHI: India’s beleaguered opposition leader Rahul Gandhi led on Sunday thousands of angry farmers in a protest in the capital against Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s controversial overhaul of laws on land-buying.

The Congress leader accused Mr Modi of being beholden to big business at the expense of struggling farmers during the rally against the government’s contentious land bill.

“The Modi government wants to weaken farmers to such an extent that they are rendered helpless and forced to sell their land,” Mr Gandhi told the crowd.

Read: Return of Rahul Gandhi sparks media frenzy

Dressed in white and waving Congress party flags, thousands of farmers poured into Delhi for the rally against the bill, which makes it easier for businesses to purchase farmland.

Shortly before the protest was set to begin, Mr Modi launched a staunch defence of his government’s initiatives to help tens of millions of poor, including lowering high inflation.

“This is a government for the poor. We are dedicated to the poor,” he told a meeting of lawmakers from his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) without referring to the land bill.

“Instead, anything that we say is ripped and twisted by the opposition. Can’t we speak? Is this a crime (that) we are committing?”

After sweeping to power in last year’s elections promising to reform the economy, Mr Modi says the bill is needed to improve the efficiency of land purchases for factories, industrial corridors and other development projects.

Also read: India’s powerful farming lobby turns on Modi

But anger has been mounting in rural areas over the move, seen as favouring big business and compounding the misery of debt-laden farmers, who overwhelmingly supported BJP in the elections. Many have already suffered extensive unseasonal rain damage to winter crops.

Congress mobilised thousands of supporters for the nationally televised rally, seen as a chance for the 44-year-old Gandhi to re-launch himself as a strong head of the party and eventually replace his mother.

The rally comes on the eve of a session of parliament where the government is expected to push ahead with efforts to pass the bill despite lacking the numbers in the upper house.

The Congress is hoping to harness anger against the bill after a series of electoral defeats that followed its humiliating loss in the national polls.

Mr Gandhi’s speech came just days after his return from a two-month sabbatical to “reflect” on his party’s defeats, which had led to ridicule of his leadership skills.

Published in Dawn, April 20th, 2015

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