Several Opposition leaders including P Chidambaram and MK Stalin targeted the central government over the farm bills passed in the Parliament, calling the move ‘anti-farmer’ and ‘corporate-oriented’.
The three bills – The Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill 2020, the Farmers' (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill 2020, and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill 2020 – were passed in the Lok Sabha recently.
Reacting to the bills, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao said the bills would do injustice to farmers.
“Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao said that farmers and farming related bills introduced by Centre in Parliament would do a lot of injustice to farm sector in country. CM said these bills are nothing but a sugar-coated pill & should be opposed at all costs,” his office said in a statement.
Apart from the Congress, long-time NDA ally Shiromani Akali Dal, too, objected to the bills, calling these "anti-farmers," with SAD leader Harsimrat Kaur Badal resigning from the Union Cabinet.
The DMK on Saturday called a meeting of its alliance partners on Monday to discuss the three bills.
In a statement, the DMK said an all-party meeting is being called on Monday at 10:30 am to discuss the "anti-farmer Bills" passed by the Lok Sabha.
Congress Slams Govt
Former Finance Minister P Chidambaram took to Twitter to not only slam the Centre but also the TV News media over the matter. He said the laws scuttle the MSP principle and undermine public procurement.
Chidambaram said, “The APMC system is indeed a safety net for the farmer but it is a restricted market that is not accessible to millions of farmers. We need to enlarge the market for agriculture produce while preserving the ‘safety net’ principle through MSP and Public Procurement.”
Slamming news channels, Chidambaram said, “Will the TV anchors highlight the fact that the Congress Manifesto promised to create thousands of Farmers’ Markets in small towns and large villages?”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi attacked Opposition parties on Friday, saying they are "lying" to farmers. He also claimed that the NDA Government is doing what "they" themselves promised in their manifestos, referring to the Congress.
The PM said the bills were "necessary" to safeguard the farmers from middlemen.
The Congress on Friday accused PM Modi of lying to the farmers of the country and said that the ruling party is behaving like the ‘Kauravas’ of the Mahabharat and the grand old party is standing with the farmers who are fighting like Pandavas.
Addressing a press conference outside Parliament, Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said, “When a man is sitting on the constitutional post of the Prime MInister, then he should avoid speaking lies and also not befool people.”
He said, “Unfortunately I have to say that the Prime Minister is lying to the farmers of the country, he is anti-farmer, anti-labour and he is attacking the farmers of the country."
Firing a salvo at the Prime Minister, Surjewala said, “Why is Modi hatching a conspiracy to end the minimum support price for farmers through a Bill?”
The Congress leader said that neither Modi nor Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar have agricultural land, they don't know anything about farming but both of them are teaching farming to the farmers of the country.
BJP Issues Whip to Members
The BJP on Saturday, 19 September, issued a three-line whip to all its Rajya Sabha members to be present on Sunday when the farm bills are slated to be introduced in the Upper House.
The farms bills already passed by the Lok Sabha have become a bone of contention between the government and the Opposition. However, the government pushed them aggressively, calling them pro-farmer and labelling those opposing them as batting for the middlemen.
Now, the three farm bills are set to face opposition in the Rajya Sabha and the government wants full attendance on the treasury benches.
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