Farmers Movement Archive

Farmers’ stir: Akali team meets TMC leaders for joint strategy

Kolkata: A five-member Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) delegation led by party spokesperson and former MP Prem Singh Chandumajra came down to Trinamool Bhavan in Kolkata on Saturday to strategize the future course of the farmers’ agitation. It came a day after CM Mamata Banerjee spoke with the protesting farmers and sent TMC’s Rajya Sabha leader Derek O’Brien to the stir site at the Delhi-Haryana border in support of the cause. Leaders of both parties decided to meet leaders of other regional parties in a week or two before making a joint march to Rashtrapati Bhavan or going for a joint showdown. “We want the laws repealed. Our party chief has asked Trinamool workers to hold agitations in each block. We have also given moral support to the all-India bandh call on December 8. In Bengal, the Trinamool Kishan Morcha will launch a dharna in front of the Gandhi statue on Mayo Road on December 8. Mamata Banerjee has always upheld the farmers’ cause as she did in Singur and Nandigram,” said TMC’s Lok Sabha leader Sudip Bandyopadhyay. He and O’Brien took part in the talks with the SAD delegation. Bandyopadhyay held that the three farm bills were tabled in Parliament “all on a sudden”. “The Prime Minister could have called an all-party meeting before placing such crucial bills affecting thousands of farmers. The Centre says minimum support price is here to stay, but there is no such guarantee in the law. What’s more is one law takes out food items, including cereals, potatoes and onions, out of the list of essential commodities,” he added. Chandumajra said the issue had become a common issue for farmers, traders and transporters. “Even the Prime Minister of Canada has reacted to this. Our leader Parkash Singh Badal had a talk with Didi. The Centre has intruded into the state’s domain and has framed laws on a subject that happens to be on the state list. The law says that states can’t tax farm produce. We will work out a joint action plan,” he said. According to TMC leaders, Banerjee is looking at a national-level-handholding against the Narendra Modi government when BJP is focussed on Bengal ahead of the assembly polls. Trinamool, while stepping up the ante against BJP, is also aiming to snatch from the Left the space for gaining back a toehold in Bengal politics.

The Times of India

2020-12-06

Kolkata