New Delhi: The Congress on Saturday condemned the lathicharge on farmers protesting at Karnal and likened the BJP-JJP regime in Haryana to the "General Dyer government".
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi shared a picture on Twitter of a farmer with blood-soaked clothes after the lathicharge and said the image has shamed India. "Once again the blood of farmers is shed, India's head bows in shame," he said in a tweet in Hindi, using the hashtags "#FarmersProtest" and "Anti-farmer BJP".
Congress's chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala condemned the attack and dubbed the BJP-JJP regime as the "General Dyer government".
He alleged that the Manohar Lal Khattar government was indulging in brutality with farmers like General Dyer. He said first the Modi-led central government and Khattar-led state dispensation killed agriculture with the three black laws and now the BJP-JJP government was bleeding the farmers. He also shared pictures of injured farmers in blood-soaked clothes on Twitter and put out a video of an officer purportedly giving instructions to policemen to beat up the farmers.
Surjewala claimed the officer was the duty magistrate of Karnal and accused him of a murderous attack on farmers.
"The BJP-JJP's 'cowardly government' reminded the people once again of 'General Dyer' by ruthlessly and barbarously lathi-charging the 'Annadata' farmer in Karnal. Peacefully protesting farmers were beaten up like animals, dozens of them bled and hundreds of them were injured," he told reporters. "Once again, it has been proved that Dushyant Chautala and Manohar Lal Khattar are the real 'Dush-Man' (enemies) of the 'Annadata' farmer," he alleged.
The Congress spokesperson also alleged that those in power are acting like demons, bleeding the soul and body of the farmer. The farmers, who irrigate the fields with their blood and sweat to satiate the hunger of the people of the country, were brutally and barbarously beaten up and were made to drench in their own blood, he said.
"CM-Dy CM's conspiracy to attack farmers in Karnal is clear from the orders of the Duty Magistrate, who is ordering the police to break the heads of farmers and lash them with sticks. BJP-JJP is the 'General Dyer' government," he said in a tweet in Hindi.