Sanjay Jha was suspended by Congress in July for “anti-party activities” (Archive)
New Delhi:
Congress and the BJP are “on the same page” when it comes to farm bills, suspended Congressional leader Sanjay Jha tweeted Friday afternoon, noting that the Narendra Modi government was simply doing what the Congress had promised to do before the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections.
In an earlier tweet, Jha, who was suspended by Congress in July, said the amendments to the Essential Products Act (one of three farm laws passed yesterday by the Lok Sabha amid opposition strikes) were “consistent with the very intention of the UPA … will benefit the provisions of the multi-brand Congress FDI ”.
“Friends, in our Congressional manifesto for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, we proposed to abolish the APMC Law and make agricultural products free of restrictions. This is what the Modi government has done in the bills. of farmers. The BJP and Congress are on the same page here, “said Mr. Jha’s tweet.
“Bipartisan politics, please!” said another.
BJP IT Cell chief Amit Malviya was among those who responded to Jha’s tweet and unsurprisingly praised the former congressional spokesperson as the only person who had actually read the party’s manifesto.
“The one person, who appears to have read the Congress manifesto, remembers it and is dismayed by the duplicity of its leaders, who are conveniently located abroad, while Parliament is on the move and important steps are being taken to empower the farmers … “Amit Malviya tweeted.
The only person, who appears to have read the Congress manifesto, remembers it and is horrified by the duplicity of its leaders, who are conveniently located abroad, while Parliament is on the move and important steps are being taken to empower farmers … https: //t.co/OtqVDoGrjy
– Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) September 18, 2020
Amit Malviya also tweeted the link to a newspaper article from February 2012 (when the Congress-led UPA was in power) in which then-Prime Minister Manmohan Singh urged states to amend the APMC.
“Congress may ignore your manifesto, but what about Dr. Manmohan Singh?” Amit Malviya said.
Item 11 of the section of the Congressional Manifesto dealing with agriculture, farmers, and farm work reads: “Congress will repeal the Agricultural Products Market Committees Act and make trade in agricultural products, including exports and interstate commerce, be free from all restrictions. ” .
One of the bills passed yesterday by the Lok Sabha does just that: the Trade in Agricultural Products and Trade (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill gives farmers the option to sell their products at competitive prices anywhere in the world. country.
Yet farmers are protesting, led by massive upheavals in the Punjab-ruled Congress, because they fear they will no longer get a minimum price of support. Opposition parties have denounced the bills as “anti-farmers” and assert that the agricultural sector will be left to the fate of corporate interests.
Today, while addressing the virtual launch of a railway bridge in Bihar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi criticized the “spreading misinformation” that farmers would be defrauded by the bills.
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