New Delhi: The ‘hum do, hamare do’ slogan has made a comeback as the country is today run by just four people, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said in the Lok Sabha Thursday.
“Years ago there was a family planning slogan — hum do, hamare do (We two and ours two), but just like Corona has returned in another form, this slogan too has made a comeback. Today, four people run the country — hum do, hamare do,” Gandhi said.
While Gandhi did not take anyone’s name, saying “everyone knows the names”, Congress’ other members on the benches behind him stood up and began yelling Ambani-Adani as the leader shouted the slogan.
During Gandhi’s speech, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prahlad Joshi got up and raised a point of order and he himself ended up taking Ambani and Adani’s name.
“He is claiming that 40 per cent of the groceries and other vegetables, they are kept in Adanis and Ambanis. Let him prove it, he should place it on the table,” Joshi said.
To this members from the opposition camp retorted saying, “He has taken the names himself.”
While the Lok Sabha was Thursday slated to discuss the 2021 Budget, Gandhi said he will register his protest by discussing only the farm laws in his allotted time, and not speak a word on the Budget.
“I will only speak on the farmers’ issue and then I will go quiet,” Gandhi said as members of the ruling BJP broke into a ruckus over why the leader wasn’t discussing the Budget.
After his speech, Gandhi said he will observe two minutes of silence for the “200 farmers who have died and are martyrs,” referring to the farmers, who have lost their lives at protest sites on Delhi’s borders.
Gandhi and other Congress MPs present in the House then stood up at their seats and observed silence, even as the BJP MPs continued to ask the Speaker to “get the house in order”.
Following this, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla said Gandhi’s behaviour wasn’t appropriate.
“If you wish to discuss something, give it to me in writing and I will allot time… but allow me to run the House,” Birla said.
‘The content and intent of the farm laws’
Gandhi began his speech saying he will respond to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s remarks in the Lok Sabha Wednesday where he said he would have appreciated if the opposition discussed the “content and intent” of the farm laws and not just the “colour” of the laws.
“The PM said that the opposition is only talking about the protests, but not the content and intent of the laws. So I have decided to make the PM happy by discussing the content and intent of these laws in detail today,” Gandhi said.
The former Congress president then went on to talk about the “content and intent” of each of the three farm laws.
“The first farm law’s content is that any businessman can buy from the farmers, and an unlimited amount. Then who will go buy from the (government) mandis? The first law’s content is to finish the mandis,” Gandhi said.
The second law’s content is to “allow big businessmen to store as many grains and vegetables as they want. The idea is to finish the essential commodities act. The idea is to give birth to ‘jama khor’ (hoarding tendencies),” Gandhi said.
He then said the intention of the laws is to try and ensure that “our two friends benefit the most”.
“The first law’s intent is to see that the one who is closest of our two friends, he gets the power to sell as much as he wants. The second law’s intent is to see how the second friend can be helped. This friend has 40 per cent of the grains in his silos,” Gandhi said, continuing his ‘hum do, hamare do’ analogy.
Gandhi then referred to PM Modi’s speech from Wednesday during which he said that nothing in the new laws is “compulsory” and that everything is “optional”.
“You are right. You have given options. Options of hunger, poverty and suicide. These are the three options you have given,” Gandhi said.
‘Farm laws to break the spine of the country’
Despite continued ruckus and objections by the ruling BJP members in the Lower House, Gandhi continued his speech on the laws. He said the intention of the laws is to “break the spine” of the nation into “tukde tukde” (into pieces).
“The issue is that 40 per cent of the country is engaged in agriculture… Farmers make the spine of this nation. The idea is to break the spine of this nation into pieces and pieces, and give them to their friends,” Gandhi said.
The Congress leader then went on to say this is no longer a farmer’s agitation, but the entire country’s agitation.
“The farmers are only showing the light. It is due to their voice that the entire country has risen up in agitation. The entire country is going to rise up in agitation against ‘hum do hamare do’.”
He then said he can “give it in writing” that the farmers are not going to step back from the agitation.
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