Anand Sharma pans govt over farm laws, hails Covid infra ramp-up

Anand Sharma.

Arguing that reforms must be participatory and not arbitrary, senior Congress leader and former Union minister Anand Sharma Monday said reforms in India have always been backed by national consensus and urged the BJP-led government to hold a dialogue with farmers agitating against the new laws and to involve Chief Ministers of states too to resolve the crisis. Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has been suggesting that repeal of the laws was the only way out.

Interestingly, Sharma said “in any agitation sometimes there would be elements who do not represent the mainstream” but argued, “I personally feel that through dialogue everything can be resolved, through negotiations, through persuasion.”

Sharma’s remarks follow claims by Union ministers that “ultra-left and Maoist elements” have hijacked the farmers’ agitation.

Sharma was addressing the annual general meeting of FICCI.

Referring to the country’s fight against the pandemic, Sharma asked the government to be more generous in giving out money to all sections affected, especially the poor, and provide more stimulus to help revive the economy. He appreciate the scaling up of health care infrastructure.

While India witnessed a major upheaval and contraction in the economy, the country was “not thrown off-balance” like many other countries, he said.

The Congress, on the other hand, has been heavily critical of the government’s handling of the pandemic.

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