Farmers have called for a ‘Bharat Bandh’ on Tuesday (File Photo)
New Delhi:
The BJP aligned the ministers of the Center and the states today and began a concerted attack on the opposition on the eve of the India-wide strike called by farmers, which is supported by trade and transport unions and most of parties that do not belong to the BJP. The party claims that the massive protest, which started in Punjab and Haryana and threatens to sink the country, has been the result of mechanizations by the opposition. Several rounds of talks between the Center and the farmer agitators failed. The next one is scheduled for December 9. While the government is considering amendments to controversial farm laws, farmers have refused to accept anything less than complete elimination.
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Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said today that Congress, when in power, aimed to make the same changes in the agricultural sector, but now opposes the Center’s reforms for political reasons.
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Congress and Sharad Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party were in favor of privatizing the agricultural sector when he was in power, Prasad said. The repeal of the APMC Act was part of the 2019 congressional manifesto. Contract farming also began during the Manmohan Singh government in many congressional states, the minister added.
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The head of the NCP, Sharad Pawar, the agriculture minister of the UPA government, said in an interview that the APMC Law would disappear in six months. It was also during the UPA rule, that the Planning Commission suggested that the central government can enact the interstate agricultural trade law, Mr. Prasad added.
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Former Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis also attacked Congress and the PNC, which now rules Maharashtra with the Shiv Sena, along the same lines. “In Pawar’s biography, he says that farmers can and should be able to sell anywhere … Pawar was never against the law. He had always said that there was more to discuss. That’s because he himself had set the rules “said Mr. Fadnavis said.
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Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi party, Fadnavis said, is part of this opposition, but the Delhi government was the first to pass the agricultural laws. “Akali Dal took a position on the standing committee in December 2019 that APMC is not working on behalf of farmers … Shiv Sena had supported us when fruits and vegetables were denoted. Other parties: TMC, DMK and the left They’re also being hypocritical, “Fadnavis said.
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“Only the Punjab farmers are protesting (against the farm laws). So I think the parties supporting the call to strike across India are doing it just to oppose the Modi government,” Fadnavis added.
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Congress, Sharad Pawar’s PNC, Lalu Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal, the Samajwadi Party and various left-wing groups have supported tomorrow’s strike call. In the south, the strike is supported by the DMK of Tamil Nadu and the ruler Telangana Rashtra Samithi of Telangana and in Jammu and Kashmir, the People’s Alliance. In Delhi, AAP will hold a symbolic protest in favor of farmers. Bengal’s ruling Trinamool Congress said it will extend “moral support” to farmers and organize sit-ins across the state for three days.
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In a statement supporting the strike on Sunday, opposition parties said: “These new farm laws passed in Parliament in a blatant (and) undemocratic way (by) preventing a structured discussion and vote, threaten the food security of India, destroy Indian agriculture and our farmers, lay the groundwork for the abolition of the MSP and mortgage Indian agriculture and our markets at the whims of multinational agribusiness corporations. “
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Thousands of farmers, who have gathered on the Delhi borders to discuss the matter with the Center, have said that they will completely block entrances to the national capital to increase pressure on the Center. Only emergency services will be allowed.
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The government has offered to amend the farm laws, but has been adamant not to remove them. Farmers have rejected offers of amendments and say they will not end their protest until all three laws are history. A new proposal from Cente is expected during Wednesday’s meeting, the sixth since the protests began in September.
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