Congress to launch letter drive against farm and labour laws

Bengaluru: The Congress Karnataka unit on Monday said it will launch a letter drive against the contentious farm and labour laws in support of farmers and labourers ahead of the 'Bharat Bandh' by various farmers' associations on December 8.

These letters with the signatures of farmers and labourers will be sent to the President of India asking him not to approve these controversial laws, the Congress Karnataka Unit chief D K Shivakumar said at a press conference on Monday. According to him, Congress president Sonia Gandhi has directed the party workers to gather the opinion of the farmers and labourers by way of signature on the letter.

"On the directions of our party president Sonia Gandhi, we are going to provide 8.8 lakh letters to the farmers and labourers who will sign on it and send it to the President of India," Shivakumar said.

He added that the party machinery right from the state level, district level to the village level will work towards distributing the letter and gathering signatures of people to send it to the President.

To a question on the anti-cow slaughter bill, which the BJP wanted to table in the ongoing assembly session, Shivakumar said there already existed an anti-cow slaughter law in place in the state.

"The BJP and its ministers are giving a political and communal colour to it.They should know in this country who is exporting beef. In which part of the country they are located and who are they.

They should know their (beef exporters) background," Shivakumar said. According to the Congress chief, the anti-cow slaughter bill is against the farmers.