The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday criticized opposition parties for politicizing concerns about recently passed farm laws and misleading farmers, saying they oppose Narendra Modi’s government for the sake of doing so.
Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said that political parties that have supported the farmers’ ongoing protest show “double standards” when it comes to reforms in the agricultural sector.
A group of political parties such as Congress, NCP, TMC, SAD, Samajwadi Party are supporting farmers from Punjab and Haryana who have been camping in protest on the Delhi border seeking the repeal of recently passed farm laws .
Accusing them of “duplicity,” Prasad said parties such as Congress and the PNC had tried in the past to undertake similar reforms in the agricultural sector, but opposed the Modi government for trying to do what they had tried to do.
Look at ‘cheeky double standards’: BJP attacks opposition over farmers’ protest
“Congress, in its 2019 manifesto, had promised to repeal the Agricultural Products Marketing Committee (APMC) Act and make trade in agricultural products, including export, free of all restrictions. In 2013, Rahul Gandhi had called a meeting of all congressional chief ministers and said that states governed by Congress should give farmers the right to sell directly. He said they will remove fruits and vegetables from the APMC and give farmers freedom of choice, ”said Prasad.
He went on to say that Sharad Pawar, who was a minister of agriculture and currently opposes the new agricultural laws, had also written to senior ministers requesting private sector participation in the market infrastructure.
“I had written to the then Chief Minister of Delhi, Sheila Dikshit, and the Chief Minister of Parliament, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, that the agricultural sector needs improvement and the market requires a large investment in marketing infrastructure, including the cold chain. and the participation of the private sector is essential … There was a standing committee that had Mulayam Singh Yadav as a member, who said that it was necessary for the farmers to be freed from the shackles of the mandi, ”said Prasad.
Blaming the opposition for using the farmers’ protest as a platform to “maintain their political relevance,” Prasad said that between 2007 and 2012 the Manmohan Singh government had recommended contract farming. He said that in states like Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Maharashtra, MP, Mizoram, Nagaland, Orissa and Rajasthan, contract farming was enabled to allow more opportunities for farmers and increase your income.
“Yogendra Yadav wanted the Modi government to make improvements to the APMC law. Arvind Kejriwal notified on November 23 the new laws that have been drafted … Political parties are misleading farmers and their whole approach is two-sided, ”he said.
He also assured farmers that their land will not be sold or leased under the new contract farming laws. “I want to assure you that the land will not be sold, leased or mortgaged under the new contract farming laws,” he said.
Referring to digital mandi, the national agricultural market portal that has given farmers access to markets outside their states, the minister said that 1,000 mandi from 21 states are operating on the portal and that business has been conducted. worth Rs1.15 crore.
He said that if the government’s intention was to close mandis, it would not have made crop purchases. As of the end of November, 31.8 million tons of rice have been bought, of which 64% is from Punjab, he said.
Meanwhile, Congress blamed the Center for the ongoing farmer agitation, saying that the NDA government was responsible for the protests, as it had not held talks with farmers before enacting the new laws.
In a press conference, the President of the Punjab Congress, Sunil Jakhar, said that the Center had also attacked the opposition for its criticism of the agricultural bills in the parliament session during the monsoon.
He stated that the Center would be responsible for any inconvenience people faced during Bharat bandh on Tuesday. “The only solution is to call a session of Parliament and repeal the laws,” Jakhar told reporters. “The Center is being rigid. It is responsible for the farmers becoming agitated in intense cold, ”he added.
The leader of Congress also attacked the government for the construction of the new Parliament building. “The government is spending money on the construction of a new Parliament building. They should realize that Parliament works on emotions, not buildings, ”he added.
Congress leaders from Punjab and Haryana staged a protest in Delhi’s Jantar Mantar, demanding the immediate convening of the winter session of Parliament to discuss farmers’ problems. Punjab Party MPs and Haryana Preneet Kaur, Manish Tewari, Ravneet Singh Bittu, Gurjeet Singh Aujla, Amar Singh, Mohammad Sadique and Deepender Hooda held a sit-in in Jantar Mantar to pressure the government to withdraw contentious laws and discuss the issue in Parliament. (With input from Aurangzeb Naqshbandi)
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