NEW DELHI: Leaders of 11 parties, including Congress President Sonia Gandhi, DMK head MK Stalin, CPN Patriarch Sharad Pawar, Samajwadi Party head Akhilesh Yadav and the Left Front Sitaram Yechury Y D Raja, said on Sunday they would lend their support “wholeheartedly” to December 8 Bharat bandh call for farmers‘Unions protesting the three agricultural marketing laws and demanding their repeal.
A joint statement signed by the heads of the 11 parties said the new laws were passed in parliament in a “blatant and undemocratic manner,” preventing a structured discussion and vote. They also claimed that the laws “threaten India’s food security, destroy Indian agriculture and our farmers, lay the foundation for the abolition of the Minimum Livelihood Price (MSP), and mortgage Indian agriculture and our markets at the whims of business. multinational agro-industrial companies and national companies ”.
Allies of Shiv Sena, Trinamool, TRS, Akali Dal, AAP and BJP – AssamThe AGP and the Rashtriya Loktantrik Party in Rajasthan also came out in support of the uproar and the Bharat bandh call, although they were not signatories to the joint statement.
“The central government must adhere to democratic processes and norms and comply with the legitimate demands of our ‘kisans-annadatas'”, the letter signed by party leaders, including the National Conference Farooq Abdullah and Tejashwi Yadav of RJD said.
Hours earlier, Congress said on December 8, the party would hold one-day protests in all districts and state headquarters in solidarity with farmers. Former party chief Rahul Gandhi has backed the farming community, demanding that the government give in to their demands.
“The whole world is witnessing the plight of our farmers. The whole world is seeing the horrible sight of farmers sitting outside the capital in the middle of the night in winter waiting for the government to listen to them, ”said Congress spokesman Pawan Khera, criticizing the government for the haste with which they were applied. agricultural laws. promulgated.
Khera claimed that the Center did not trust farmers and now claimed to work in their interest. “What we are seeing today is the result of a conspiracy between the government and its corporate friends, where the victim will be the farmer, and the farmer knows it,” he added.
On Video: Farmers Protest: AAP Supports Farmers ‘Bharat Bandh’
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