NEW DELHI: In an attempt to give a sharper edge to your opposition to the new farm laws, Congress has directed states where the party is in office to invalidate the laws by resorting to a key constitutional provision that allows states to frame their own laws on issues on the concurrent list under certain circumstances.
Party president Sonia Gandhi on Monday he asked states to explore passing laws that would deny the provisions of the central agricultural laws, under article 254 (2) of the Constitution, party secretary general KC Venugopal He said. The main leader of Congress, Jairam Ramesh He said there was a precedent for states to resort to such a constitutional provision to annul central laws.
“Like FM, Arun Jaitley succeeded in getting states to resort to article 254 (2) of the Constitution to override the provisions of the land acquisition law, a law that I had fully supported as LoP in RS, ”Ramesh tweeted.
However, there were differences within Congress with some party strategists who said that addressing the Supreme Court against farm laws may not be helpful. Their fear is that if the laws are upheld by the higher court, it could remove the sting of the controversy over the jurisdictional issue of the Center invading state territory. But a growing number of petitions are being filed in the SC, some represented by Congressional attorneys.
Ramesh’s reference was to the late BJP leader’s view that state governments could decide on waivers of the consent and social impact clauses of the UPA-era land acquisition law in areas such as national security, rural infrastructure, affordable housing, industrial corridors, and infrastructure projects. This came after attempts by the Narendra Modi government to water down the law after he took office in 2014 ran into strong political opposition.
At the time, the Modi government had said facilitating land acquisition “impractical” had been the demand of most CMs, but Congress opposed the measure. With the majority then enjoyed by the opposition in Rajya Sabha, the bill was stalled. However, there is a key provision in states that can pass a law that denies a core law on a concurrent list issue: You must receive the consent of the president, something Jaitley had pointed out.
Congress discussed the legality of the measure with internal counsel Abhishek Singhvi before giving instructions to senior ministers. However, senior congressmen also pointed to the presidential assent rider, saying this was a crucial condition in the states that framed their laws under Article 254 (2). They said that any state law that overrode the core agricultural laws was bound to be rejected by the Interior Ministry in its advice to the president.
Sources said that despite the inevitability of the Center blocking any laws passed by states ruled by Congress, the party’s strategy was sound. They said the idea behind the address to senior ministers was more to make a political point by further emphasizing opposition to the central farm laws recently passed by Parliament, thereby aligning the party more closely with farmers.
According to a senior leader, the dispute is striking a chord in the agricultural community across the country and action is required to continue to insist on the “negative provisions” of the core laws. The controversy over the land bill in 2014-15 caused UPA legislation to be criticized for poor drafting and conditions that made it difficult to acquire land.
.
