— PHOTO: PTI

SHOW OF STRENGTH: Suspended Congress leader Natwar Singh greets supporters at a farmers' rally in Jaipur on Wednesday.

JAIPUR: Tens of thousands of people attended a "Kisan Swabhiman" (farmers' pride) rally here on Wednesday and expressed solidarity with the former External Affairs Minister, K. Natwar Singh. They affirmed that he was a "victim of conspiracy" and suspended from the Congress.

People from the Bharatpur, Alwar and Shekhawati regions of Rajasthan and from neighbouring Haryana and Uttar Pradesh participated in the day-long rally at the Vidyadhar Nagar stadium here.

"Messiah of farmers"

The rallyists described Mr. Natwar Singh as a "messiah of farmers" and protested against the treatment meted out to him despite the Justice Pathak Inquiry Authority clearing him and his son, Jagat Singh, in the food-for-oil scam.

The rally was organised by the Jat Mahasabha and the newly formed Kisan Sangharsh Samiti.

The speakers described the policies of both the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party as leading to poverty, deprivation and exploitation of farmers. The subject of India's "declining stature" in the comity of nations was also touched upon with some leaders questioning the increasing "proximity to the United States."

The Jat leaders, while pointing out the "deficiencies" of the BJP rule in the State, affirmed that the community would give its support to the party that protected its livelihood, crops, fields and land rights.

Addressing the rally, Mr. Natwar Singh said he would not bow down or accept defeat, and would continue to work for the welfare of peasants and the common people, irrespective of his fate in the Congress. "I will serve the nation regardless of whether I am in the party or outside," he said as the audience chanted slogans in his support.

Mr. Singh said he had replied to the show-cause notice issued by the Congress, while pointing out that his case was being considered by a disciplinary committee comprising two members who had themselves been expelled from the party for six years earlier. "Far from indulging in any anti-party activity, I have never uttered a word against the Nehru-Gandhi family," he said.

Differences with U.S.

Mr. Singh said his differences with U.S. leaders had emerged in the wake of their policies vis-à-vis the World Trade Organisation and the West Asian countries targeted in the war against terrorism.

He regretted that his own party did not allow him to speak in the Rajya Sabha on the India-U.S. nuclear deal, and said the United Progressive Alliance Government had a lot to explain even in respect of its stand on farmers, agriculture and rural development vis-à-vis the Common Minimum Programme.

While Mr. Jagat Singh held the "weak leadership" of the Congress responsible for the party's defeat in the last Assembly elections in the State, Jat Mahasabha president Rajaram Meel said neither the Congress nor the BJP was interested in the welfare of farmers.

Even as the rallyists demanded Mr. Natwar Singh's re-induction into the Union Cabinet, the former Congress MP, Jaswant Yadav, requested him to prepare himself to become the next Chief Minister of Rajasthan.

Meo leaders Mukarram Ali and Ayub Khan, Indian National Lok Dal MLA Bahadur Singh, the former Congress MLA, Yashwant Singh Ramu, Haryana-based Jat leader Hari Singh, and Kisan Sangharsh Samiti leader Renwal Singh also addressed the rally.

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