Farmers shout slogans as they block a national highway during a protest against agriculture-related bills presented by the central government, in Beas, Punjab, on September 16, 2020 (NARINDER NANU / AFP).
BJP chief JP Nadda and Union agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar have briefed party ministers and parliamentarians to engage with farmers and assure them that the MSP’s support will continue. They are also told to point out that Congress had promised the same reforms, but now opposes the legislation for “political exploitation.”
- CNN-News18 New Delhi
- Last update: September 21, 2020 7:23 PM IST
- FOLLOW US:
The ruling BJP has gone on a multi-level mega outreach to placate angry farmers who have amplified protests against controversial farm bills.
Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar has spoken with BJP central ministers and MPs from Punjab, Haryana and surrounding states, and held virtual meetings with agriculture ministers from NDA-governed states, tasking them with bringing the government’s position on bills to farmers and the public.
Tomar has also contacted officials from RSS-affiliated Bharatiya Kisan Sangh, Kisan Morcha and Swadesi Jagaran Manch who have opposed the bills. It has briefed state and national party spokespersons on the salient features of the bill, and the BJP parliament office has sent a copy of it to all party members.
While the party’s national chairman JP Nadda has spearheaded the offensive against the opposition, the Union government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been trying to reassure farmers that MSP support will continue. All BJP MPs have been instructed to hold press meetings in their respective constituencies to mitigate the opposition attack.
Here’s a look at what BJP ministers, legislators, and leaders are tasked with communicating to farmers and the general public:
– The government maintains that the Agricultural Products Trade and Trade (Promotion and Facilitation) Act of 2020 allows farmers to sell their finished crops to any trader anywhere without obligation to sell in the Agricultural Products Market Committee (APMC) mandi of your own specific area. It says the legislation is part of the government’s vision of “one nation, one market.”
– Says the 2020 Farmers’ Agricultural Services and Price Assurance Agreement (Empowerment and Protection) seeks to provide a national framework on agricultural agreements that protects and empowers farmers to engage with wholesale and export agricultural companies for future agricultural services and sales. agricultural products within a mutually agreed remunerative price framework fairly and transparently.
– The Essential Products (Amendment) Act of 2020, the government says, allows the central government to regulate the supply of certain foods only in extraordinary circumstances, such as a national disaster or an emergency. He adds that previous moneylenders and entrepreneurs used to buy crops from struggling farmers, and some of them used to engage in black marketing.
The BJP says that the Essential Products Act of 1955 belongs to the era of controls. Congress had promised to replace the law with an enabling law that can only be invoked in emergencies. The party also promised to repeal the Agricultural Products Market Committee (APMC) Law. This is exactly what the Narendra Modi government has done. The Agricultural Products Trade and Trade Act seeks to allow unhindered interstate and intrastate trade in agricultural commodities.
BJP leaders note that Congress had promised to make trade in agricultural products, including exports and interstate commerce, free of all restrictions, but is now opposing the bill and “provokes people with misinformation, disinformation and indulges in political exploitation. ” .
The BJP says that former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had asked states in February 2012 to amend the Agricultural Products Marketing Committee (APMC) Act, and had stated that such an amendment would result in the free movement of agricultural products to across the country.
.
