Congress will launch its nearly two-month-long “mass movement” against the government on Thursday for passing bills “against farmers and the poor” during the monsoon session of parliament.
The party will also collect two million signatures from farmers protesting the proposed laws.
The Draft Law on Trade (Promotion and Facilitation) of Agricultural Products and Trade (Promotion and Facilitation) of 2020, the Agreement for the Guarantee of Prices and Agricultural Services (Empowerment and Protection) for Farmers, 2020, and the Draft Law of Products Essentials (Amendment), 2020, have been approved by both Houses of Parliament during the monsoon session and await presidential consent.
The Rajya Sabha (RS) witnessed the uproar during the passage of two of the three bills on Sunday, after which eight members: Rajeev Satav, Syed Nasir Hussain and Ripun Bora of Congress, Derek O’Brien and Dola Sen Trinamool Congress (TMC), KK Ragesh and Elamaram Kareem of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and Sanjay Singh of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) – were suspended for the remainder of the monsoon session.
Also Read: 28 Trains Canceled As Punjab Farmers Start Three-Day Rail Roko Upheaval
The session ended on Wednesday, eight days before the October 1 calendar, amid the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic.
The congressional decision to take to the streets was made at a meeting of secretaries general and heads of state at the party’s headquarters in Delhi on Monday.
The six-member special committee formed by Congress President Sonia Gandhi to assist her in organizational and operational matters chaired the meeting in her absence. AK Antony, Ahmed Patel, Ambika Soni, KC Venugopal, Mukul Wasnik and Randeep Singh Surjewala are members of the special committee.
Accompanied by her son and Member of Parliament (MP) Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi had left for the United States on September 12 for a routine medical check-up. They both returned home Tuesday morning.
“The agitation at the national level will continue until the government repeals the black laws,” Antony had said after the meeting.
Also read: ‘Opposing agriculture bills are enemies of farmers’: Shivraj Singh Chouhan
By announcing a nearly two-month calendar of protests, the main opposition party seeks to regain some of the political space it has lost over the years by targeting the 146 million farmers who pass through its operating lands, according to the agricultural census. from 2015- sixteen.
Congress also views the issue as a moment in 2015 when Sonia Gandhi played a key role in uniting 14 opposition parties against the land acquisition bill that had forced the government led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). to withdraw the controversial ordinance and shelve the idea of introducing new legislation to replace the 2013 Law.
“It is going to be a popular movement, a mass movement against this government,” Patel had said.
Venugoipal, who is the general secretary in charge of organizing Congress, said the party would have a series of programs across the country in support of farmers.
In addition to a chain of press conferences across the country starting Thursday, Venugopal said senior leaders from the states would walk up to the respective Raj Bhavans on September 28 and present a memorandum on the farm bills. to the governors to hand it over to President Ram Nath Kovind.
Also read: Productive but divisive monsoon session ends
On October 2, on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi and former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri, Congress will celebrate Kisan-Mazdoor Bachao Divas (Saving Farmers and Farm Workers Day).
There will be protests and demonstrations in all districts of the country demanding the immediate withdrawal of the agricultural laws.
On October 10, conferences will be held at the state level and from October 2-31, the party will collect the signatures of two crore farmers from across the country.
On November 14, on the occasion of the anniversary of the birth of the first Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru, a memorandum along with the signatures of two crore farmers will be presented to President Kovind.
“First this government made notebandi, then with GST it brought vyaparbandi, then with closure it made deshbandi and now it is planning khetbandi,” Surjewala had said.
Surjewala will address a press conference in Patna on Thursday.
Bihar is scheduled to go to the polls at the end of November.
The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) -Congress combination is expected to intensify its attacks on the ruling Janata Dal (United) -Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) coalition by raising the issue of farmers.
While the JD (U) and the BJP will try to counter that by highlighting the “rebellious behavior” of some of the opposition members as an “insult” to the vice president of RS Harivansh, who comes from the state, and an attack on the pride of Bihar.
.
