Opposition parties get behind farmers, want farm bills repealed

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, January 12

The Opposition parties have once again reiterated that the three farm acts should be repealed and a special Parliament session called to discuss the whole gamut of agrarian issues.

Leaders from the Congress, the TMC, the RJD, the CPI (M), the CPI and the Forward Bloc put forward these views while taking part in the ‘Special Kisan Session’ of the Janta Parliament, which was moderated by leading activist P Sainath.

“It is very clear that these farm laws are not for the welfare of our kisans. These are meant for profiteering of the corporates,” CPI (M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury said.

“We have said on a number of occasions that these laws have to be repealed and a legislation be brought to ensure the MSP. However, without a guarantee of procurement, the MSP will not be helpful. Only 6 per cent of farmers get the benefit of MSP in the country, MSP has to cover every farmer and every crop until that happens legislation will not be effective,” Yechury added.

Prominent politicians who took part in the discussion were K Raju and Rajeev Gowda (Congress), D Raja (CPI), Sukhendu Sekhar Roy (TMC), Dipankar Bhattacharya (CPI-ML) Ghanshyam Tiwari (SP) and G Devarajan (Forward Bloc).

Throwing the party’s weight behind farmer agitation, RJD MP and spokesperson Manoj Jha said that the opposition parties have not done enough to support the cause.

“I have no qualms in accepting that opposition parties have not come out of their comfort zone. We have not done our bit,” Jha said.

“We believe that a special session in Parliament will not help if it is bereft of debate. There has to be a difference between monologue, which this government is so fond of and a dialogue amongst colleagues. So we want a special session to discuss the farm issues and later on it should be sent to a select committee,” he added.