Farm laws: Cong ready for court battle, says Punjab has given PM another chance to correct black law blunder

Aditi Tandon

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, October 20

The Congress on Tuesday geared up for a long battle with the Centre saying Punjab has afforded Prime Minister Narendra Modi another chance to rectify the blunder of passing three black laws in Parliament this September.

Describing as historic the four bills Punjab assembly passed today, the Congress did not rule out possibilities of a prolonged fight over the contentious issue with the party even hinting at the battle going to the apex court.

State finance minister Manpreet Badal said “the fight has just begun” as he mentioned how Punjab had taken the lead today to secure the future of farmers.

Badal said Rajasthan chief minister and the finance ministers of Telangana and Chhattisgarh had contacted him to get details of the bills passed by the Punjab assembly.

“We may be a small state but our voice is heard far and wide,” said Badal today crediting Congress leader Abhishek Singhvi with providing the state with draft model laws to nullify the central acts.

Singhvi spoke for the Congress and said the Centre “will be exposed further if it does not correct the blunder it made by arrogantly passing the farm laws in Parliament on September 17 and 20”.

The Congress didn’t rule out the possibility of the presidential assent to the Punjab laws being denied but said, “That would be BJP’s loss.”

The Congress is geared to challenge the central laws in the apex court and is exhausting all other options to push for retraction of the central farm laws.

It was in this pursuit that 115 of Punjab’s 117 MLAs today pressed the state governor to sign the bills.

“The central laws are against federalism because they encroach on the legislative competence of the states in agriculture marketing matters. The Centre misused entry 33 of the Constitution on inter-state trade to push the black laws. Today is a positively historic day when the Punjab government of Congress has restored the status quo as existed before September and also restored the security net of farmers,” said Singhvi.

The four bills Punjab assembly passed today drew from the model law Singhvi drafted where he said no contract would be valid below MSP. any violation of MSP would be punishable; state laws will override other laws; farmers can go to court apart from SDMs for redressal and states will have the right to regulate the sector.

Badal spoke of state amendments to the Code of Civil Procedure as significant saying “Punjab produces 38 pc food stocks of India and has 1.5 pc of the national land mass. Today farmers of Punjab have heaved a sigh of relief but the fight has just begun. Let’s see what the Centre does now. They must not forget Punjab is a border state and any kind of anxiety helps the hostile neighbours.”