Farmers Movement Archive

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee plans nationwide stir if ‘anti-farmer’ laws not withdrawn

KOLKATA: Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday threatened protests “throughout the state and the country” if the Centre did not withdraw the “anti-farmer” laws “immediately”. Banerjee has convened a party meeting on Friday to discuss specifically how the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020 was “impacting common people and resulting in skyrocketing prices”. The CM’s statement comes nearly a month after her November 9 letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in which she alleged that this Act was taking away state’s powers to act against illegal profiteers and hoarders and stop supply-chain disruptions, resulting in spiralling potato and onion prices in Bengal. On Thursday, Banerjee posted on Twitter: “I am very much concerned about the farmers, their lives and livelihood. GOI must withdraw the anti-farmer bills. If they do not do so immediately, we will agitate throughout the state and the country. From the very start, we have been strongly opposing these anti-farmer bills.” Saying that “the central government must withdraw this anti-people law”, she added: “The GOI is selling everything. You cannot sell Railways, Air India, Coal, BSNL, BHEL, banks, defence, etc. Withdraw ill-conceived disinvestment and privatization policy. We must not allow the treasures of our nation to be transformed into BJP party’s personal assets.” Trinamool Congress is likely to roll out its protest plans after Friday meeting, expected to be held at 3 pm. While party MPs had opposed the farm bills in Parliament, TMC’s Kisaan Khet Mazdoor Committee had also taken to the streets in protest. In her November 9 letter, Banerjee had sought central intervention to check the rising prices and argued that either the state’s power be “restored” to control “production, supply, distribution and sale of agricultural commodities” or the state be allowed to enact an appropriate law for it. Meanwhile, TMC’s Lok Sabha leader Sudip Bandopadhyay and Rajya Sabha leader Derek O’Brien are likely to attend the virtual all-party meeting to be chaired by the PM on Friday. In her letter she had said, “As per the amendments to the Essential Commodities Act, cereals, pulses, oilseeds, edible oils, onions and potatoes are removed from the list of essential commodities. The amendments are seriously encouraging hoarders and hoarding and profiteering on essential items like potato, onion etc. thereby resulting in price rise and consequent sufferings to the consumers and the common people. Moreover, the amendments have effectively usurped the powers of the state government in facilitating the supply, distribution and sake of essential food items to the common public and regulating unscrupulous market forces that encourage hoarding, profiteering and supply-chain disruptions putting common people to huge discomfort. Only the central government now has the power to regulate these agri-products…” Banerjee has been speaking on this issue in her public and administrative meetings also.

The Times of India

2020-12-04

Kolkata