Farmers Movement Archive

Farm laws: Cong, BJP hold sammelans to woo farmers

Ranchi: Arch rivals Congress and BJP crossed swords over the new farm laws on Saturday when both the parties’ day-long kisan sammelans coincided with each other. Beginning around 11am at Deputy Para (near state finance minister Rameshwar Oraon’s residence), the grand old party’s rally — comprising around 300 people, including farmers and party workers — pointed out the ‘loopholes’ in the new legislation, BJP’s sammelan, organised around the same time in Ratu Road, highlighted how the farmers will witness a turnaround in their incomes in a matter of few years, all thanks to the new laws. Rameshwar Oraon, who is also the state Congress president, said, “Today’s rally was aimed at making the Union government sit up and take notice of the farmers’ woes. Farmers from several areas attended the sammelan and all of them demanded for the roll back of the law.” Congress members and ministers Alamgir Alam (rural development), Banna Gupta (health) and Badal Patralekh (agriculture), along with the MLAs, attended the programme as well. Badal said the party is going to fulfill its promises made to the farmers in its poll manifesto soon. “We had promised loan waivers here, like we did in other Congress-ruled states, and we will start disbursing relief funds to the tune of Rs 2,000 crore soon. The CM has already approved our plan,” he added. Meanwhile, Oraon pointed out that the sammelan was organised in accordance with all the safety norms. The saffron party took potshots at Congress — and its alliance partner in the government, JMM — for ‘misleading the poor farmers about the new laws’. State BJP president and Rajya Sabha MP Deepak Prakash said, “More than the farmers, Congress and its friends are worried about the new laws because they empower the farmers and by doing away with the middlemen, they give farmers access to global markets for selling their produce. No wonder Congress and its allies are nervous since they have always worked for the middlemen.” He also questioned why Congress, which was in power at the Centre for several decades, failed to uplift the farmers’ lives. Angara-based farmer Basant Kiro, who attended the sammelan, remained sceptical of the new laws and shed light on some of the ground realities that need to be kept in mind before implementing the acts. “Selling our produce in international markets can only happen when we can cultivate throughout the year. Jharkhand’s agriculture is totally rain-fed and the lack of sufficient irrigation facilities makes it difficult for us to plant crops all through the year,” Kiro said. Mahadev Manjhi, a vegetable grower in Pithoria, claimed how the farmers are forced to sell their produce at throwaway prices every year because of the unavailability of proper market facilities. “In the last 20 years, several parties have come to power in Jharkhand but nothing has been done to improve the agricultural facilities. Besides irrigation, timely crops and technical help, farmers like me require cold storage facilities where we can stock our produce,” he said. As the government and the opposition gear up for the bypolls in Dumka and in Bermo next month, the fight between the two camps over the new legislation looks all set to be intensified ahead of the by-election. Congress has already held several rallies and programmes in the past few weeks denouncing the legislation, while the party’s ruling alliance partners — JMM and RJD — had already dubbed the new laws as ‘anti-poor’ and ‘anti-farmers’. JMM, the leading alliance partner in the government, has already announced non-implementation of the laws. Chief minister and JMM working president Hemant Soren had aired his views on the laws last month, calling them an attack on cooperative federalism.

The Times of India

2020-10-11

Ranchi