Chandigarh: Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Sunday said his government will take the BJP and its allies, including the Shiromani Akali Dal, to the court over the unconstitutional, undemocratic and anti-farmer laws of the Centre. The CM vowed to fight till his last breath to protect the interests of the state’s farmers, according to a statement.
We will move the court and fight the draconian legislations as soon as they get the presidential nod and become the law of the land, the chief minister said. Singh expressed shock at the way the BJP-led Union government brute-forced the agriculture Bills through the Rajya Sabha.
The CM questioned the rationale behind putting the controversial and vicious Bills to voice vote despite strong reservations by the Opposition and inadequate numbers in the House. He said the Bills were a blatant encroachment on the state’s powers and control of the agriculture sector. “Why did the House not go for division of votes on this critical issue, which has even divided the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA),” he asked. He said his government will not allow the Union government, of which the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) shamelessly continues to be a part, to trample upon the rights and interests of farmers through the cruel legislations designed to destroy the farmers. We stand with the farmers and will do whatever it takes to protect their interests, he said in a statement here.
They (BJP and its allies) clearly don’t care for what these laws will do to the farmers, he said, flaying the BJP-led government for selling interests of the farmers to big corporates. BJP’s so-called watershed moment will be the death of agriculture and will endanger the nation’s food security, warned the CM. Bills through without consultation with key stakeholders and even without taking the government of Punjab into confidence, the Union government has shown that it has no concern whatsoever for farmers or the farm sector, he said.
He said the Bills nowhere make any mention of retaining the minimum support price (MSP) mechanism. This clearly exposes the ill intent of the Centre, which has a poor trust record as far as states go, Amarinder Singh said in the statement. If they cannot adhere to clearly defined provisions on the Goods and Services Tax), how can one trust them to uphold their verbal assurances on the MSP, he questioned. The CM asked if these legislations are actually revolutionary and in the interests of farmers. Farmers are not fools and will not be marching to Delhi, braving a pandemic, if they did not find the Bills damaging and detrimental to their interests, he said.
Every single provision of these Bills is crafted to destroy lakhs of small and marginal farmers, who could not hope to compete in the monopolistic system that the Centre aimed at bringing into the sector. Where will these poor farmers go to sell their produce with the states no longer the pivotal players in the entire agricultural marketing system, he asked. He claimed farmers were nowhere near getting the government-mandated MSP on their foodgrains in the open market that exists even today to a limited extent. Singh said it was unfortunate that instead of strengthening the state-led marketing system, the Centre has chosen to “end” it completely. Amid an uproar by the opposition, the Rajya Sabha on Sunday passed the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill; and the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill. They were passed by Lok Sabha on Thursday. A third bill is yet to be passed in the Rajya Sabha.
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