Congressional MP P Chidambaram issued a statement on the row of agricultural bills on Saturday morning (Archive)
New Delhi:
Congressional deputy P Chidambaram criticized Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP spokespersons over the controversy over the farm bills on Saturday morning, accusing them of “maliciously” distorting the 2019 party manifesto amidst a political dispute between the ruling party and the opposition on this issue.
Before last year’s elections, Congress suggested changes to agricultural laws that would abolish the Agricultural Market Products Committees Act (AMPC), something that one of the bills proposed by the Narendra Modi government does and something pointed out by the BJP while defending those bills. .
However, Chidambaram said Congress would have secured “multiple accessible markets” for farmers looking to sell their produce before eliminating the APMC Act.
“The prime minister and BJP spokesmen have deliberately and maliciously distorted the Congress manifesto … Farmers need multiple markets and (easily) accessible options. Congressional proposals would have given them that,” Chidambaram said in his statement.
The former Union Finance Minister noted that his party’s manifesto also promised to allow farmers’ businesses / organizations to access technology and also establish adequate infrastructure in villages large and small to help them trade freely.
“Once it was achieved, the promise in the Congressional manifesto to repeal the APMC Act and make trade in agricultural products free would have been a natural sequel,” he added.
However, the Narendra Modi government, Chidambaram claimed, had “surrendered to businesses and merchants,” noting the absence of a clause linking the lowest price farmers would get for their products from private buyers to the price. minimum support (MSP) established by the Government.
“Why is such a clause missing?” he asked, adding: “The bills (also) undermine the only regulated market available to the farmer without creating thousands of alternatives.”
“The bills (also) perversely assume that the farmer and the private buyer have the same bargaining power. They are not. The small farmer will be at the mercy of the private buyer,” he added.
Prime Minister Modi said on Friday there was a “disinformation campaign” about the farm laws.
On Friday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi criticized what he said was a “disinformation” campaign against the bills. He said “fake news” was spreading that farmers would not get a Minimum Support Price (MSP) for their products and that the government would not buy these products.
“… beware of everyone who is trying to mislead you … These people, who have been in power for decades and have talked so much about farmers and agricultural problems, have done nothing,” the prime minister said.
Later that day, Akali parliamentarian Dal Harsimrat Kaur Badal (who resigned as Union Minister in protest of the bills) noted that Congress had also proposed the abolition of the APMC Act.
The suspended congressional spokesperson, Sanjay Jha, tweeted; “BJP and Congress on the same page here”.
The government has said that the bills will help small and marginal farmers by empowering them through written agreements and farmers can sell their products at competitive prices anywhere in India.
However, farmers fear that this means that they will no longer be able to sell at an MSP. Mass protests have taken place in Punjab and Haryana, as the bills will be presented at the Rajya Sabha on Sunday.
Speaking to NDTV on Friday, Ms Badal said that farmers had relayed similar concerns to her about the emergence of private and corporate players in this field.
“A country farmer gave us an example … ‘Jio came in, they gave free phones. When everyone bought those phones and became dependent on these phones, the competition was eliminated and Jio raised their rates. This is exactly what the corporations asked him they are going to do, ”said Ms. Badal.
Ms Badal said she had repeatedly asked the government to listen to concerns raised by farmers, saying farmers feel they will be “at the mercy of these private actors.” “This is the apprehension they have. The center should talk to them to clear this fear,” he said.
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