Punjab CM Amarinder Singh organizes a protest sit-in in Khatkar Kalan on Monday.
Singh claimed that the union minister, Narendra Tomar, was lying when he said his government was consulted on the bills and said the Center does not understand agriculture.
- News18.com
- Last update: September 28, 2020 2:18 PM IST
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Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh said on Monday that his government will move the Supreme Court against the three agricultural bills the Center passed in Parliament last week while organizing a sit-in to extend support to farmers who they protested.
Speaking to journalists in Khatkar Kalan, the ancestral village of freedom fighter Bhagat Singh, the CM said that the Center had no right to enact a law on agriculture, as it was a state issue, and that the laws will be challenged in the courts.
He also linked the farmers’ protests to a security threat, claiming that Pakistan’s intelligence agency ISI can take advantage of the current situation. “Vulnerable farmers protesting are easy prey for ISI,” he said.
Singh said the Center does not understand agriculture and therefore does not understand why farmers are protesting. “Poor Punjab farmers feed the nation. Will Center will take responsibility for feeding everyone, ”he asked.
He claimed that the trade union minister, Narendra Tomar, was lying when his government was consulted on the bills. “They only called us to a meeting to tell us that the decision has already been made,” said the CM.
Critics have said that the new agricultural policies will lead farmers to lose guaranteed purchase prices for their crops, to the benefit of large corporations. Most opposition parties and farmers’ organizations across the country have strongly opposed the bills.
The bills: the 2020 Agricultural Trade and Trade (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, the 2020 Farmers’ Farmer (Empowerment and Protection) Price Guarantee Agreement and the 2020 Bill on essential commodities (amendment), had also resulted in a Bharat bandh. last week, where protesters and farmers blocked railroad tracks and roads.
The protests have been most intense in Punjab, forcing the former BJP ally SAD to resign from the NDA on Saturday. Previously, Harsimrat Kaur Badal had resigned from the Union Cabinet.
President Ram Nath Kovind approved the bill on Sunday, despite being asked by the opposition to return the bill for discussion.
Captain Amarinder Singh had previously said that Punjab will try to amend the laws to protect farmers from the controversial laws. “We are already consulting with legal and agricultural experts, and with all those affected by the dire legislation of the central government, to decide the future course of action,” Amarinder Singh said in a statement.
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