Farmers Movement Archive

MSP is here to stay; political hooliganism in name of dissent: Hardeep Puri

CHANDIGARH: Accusing the opposition parties of spreading ‘misinformation, disinformation and outright lies’ about the Farm Laws, Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Saturday claimed that the Agri Acts will liberate the farmers and even the Congress manifesto for 2019 had promised similar steps. Addressing a press conference, Punjab asked, “Why is it that 33 of the 107 MPs from other parties were absent when the Farm Bills were passed in the Rajya Sabha on September 20? Read the statements of Manmohan Singh and Montek Singh Ahluwalia. They had said in the past that these things should be implemented. The agriculture outlay used to be Rs 12,000 crore under UPA, which was raised to Rs 1,34,000 crore. Direct transfers to farmers went up to Rs 92,000 crore so far,” he said. Stating that no farmer will ever set his tractor on fire, the minister said Congress is indulging in political hooliganism. “The Congress manifesto for Punjab assembly polls in 2017 and then Lok Sabha elections in 2019 had talked about similar measures for the farm sector. But we all saw what happened in Parliament that day. That was not dissent or parliamentary democracy.” SAD was defending the Farm Bills till September 6 On BJP’s former ally Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), Puri said, “I usually don’t criticise our allies. But if you see the (former) minister’s statement till September 6, it was being said the opposition parties are not right in criticising the Farm Bills. They claimed that they (SAD) raised the issue... I don’t know because Som Parkash and I also sit in the same council of ministers. There was definitely no talk about agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar giving a written assurance about the MSP,” he said. “SAD has been our ally and we did not part ways, they quit,” said Puri, reacting to statements by Punjab BJP leaders expressing happiness at the fact that BJP can now go solo in the state. Asked if he would term the end of SAD-BJP alliance ‘good riddance’, Puri said that may be the personal feelings of some leaders, but there had been no official statements to this effect. Earlier, Som Parkash had said SAD had to make a U-Turn after assessing the ground situation in the state. “Even Parkash Singh Badal had supported the Farm Bill,” said Som Parkash. Modi govt committed to giving MSP “Lies are being spread that farmers’ land will be usurped by big corporate houses under the new regime. But the Act says, ‘sale, lease or mortgage of farmers’ land is totally prohibited and farmers’ land is also protected against any recovery’,” said Puri. “Modi government is committed to giving the MSP to farmers. The Farm Acts are a win-win for everyone. Look at the condition of milk producers before Amul was established and where Turkey stood in food processing when Rajiv Gandhi visited there in the 80s,” he said. “Even the commission agents (arhtiyas) will end up benefiting from the new system,” he said. ‘Ready to Speak to Farmers’ Replying to a question why the BJP was not reaching out to farmers, Puri said that is why he was speaking to the media so that the right message goes to them. "If you want, we are ready to hold a meeting (with farmers) but it should be on the subject. We are ready to speak to anyone, but not the way the tractor was burnt. We have no inhibition in speaking to the farmers’ union. Tomarji, his representatives or the state leaders are ready to discuss the issue,” he added. Ashwani Sharma, Punjab president, said a committee had already been constituted to speak to 31 farmers’ unions in the state. ‘BJP workers being threatened’ Puri said BJP workers were being threatened and party leader Hans Raj Hans could not join them due to this. Party MP Som Parkash added that at many places Youth Congress workers were trying to threaten BJP workers and the state government should ensure that such a thing should not happen.

The Times of India

2020-10-04

Chandigarh