Punjab’s Chief Minister Amarinder Singh had promised to fight until the laws were changed (archive)
Chandigarh:
Punjab has decided to reject the Center’s controversial agricultural laws that have caused a storm throughout the state and neighboring Haryana. For this, an extraordinary assembly session will be held on October 19, the state cabinet resolved today.
The cabinet decision, chaired by Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, makes Punjab the first state to officially reject agricultural laws. During the assembly session that ended on August 28, a resolution was approved in this regard.
The cabinet move is expected to have overwhelming support as both the ruling Congress and the opposition Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) are on the same side for once.
Congress has promised to repeal the laws if it comes to power in the Center. In the state, Prime Minister Amarinder Singh has spoken of “waging a war against the new laws.”
SAD, which initially supported the farm laws, took a 180-degree turn last month as farmers’ protests gathered steam. Under pressure from the farmers and Congress, the party split from the NDA and left the government.
The central government enacted the three new laws last month amid vociferous protests from farmers, who say the laws will reduce their bargaining power and hand over price control to large retailers.
Farmers’ organizations fear the government will stop buying cereals at guaranteed prices, a move that could disrupt wholesale markets that have so far ensured fair and timely payments.
They also find the idea of dealing with large corporations alarming. Small farmers, whom the laws were meant to empower, are particularly afraid of being at the mercy of big business with the phasing out of wholesale agricultural markets.
The protests have been particularly intense in Punjab, a predominantly agricultural state.
“We will not back down from fighting black farm laws until they are amended to give a written constitutional guarantee on the minimum support price (MSP) and the continuation of the FCI (Food Corporation of India),” he said the chief minister, Amarinder Singh. October 4.
His Congressional party had held tractor rallies from October 4-6 across the state in protest.
The Center, which says the laws are major reforms of the agricultural sector that will free farmers from the clutches of middlemen, invited Punjab farmers for a discussion today in Delhi.
The meeting, however, ended in chaos when the farmers’ representatives withdrew in the absence of the Union Minister of Agriculture, Narendra Singh Tomar, or his prime minister. Agitated farmer representatives were seen shouting slogans and smashing copies of new farm laws off site.
Farmers have warned that their agitation will continue until the laws are removed.
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