Farmers Movement Archive

Bihar: Opposition slams ‘anti-farmer, anti-poor’ farm Bills

PATNA: The opposition in poll-bound Bihar has upped the ante against the NDA government over farm bills passed by Parliament amid a ruckus in the Rajya Sabha. While RJD has called for protest across all district headquarters on September 25, the youth wing of the state Congress protested at Kargil Chowk on Monday and burnt effigies of PM Narendra Modi and CM Nitish Kumar. Incarcerated RJD chief Lalu Prasad tweeted against the passage of the Bills. “The anti-farmer and anti-poor Nitish-BJP government had in 2006 closed down the agriculture produce market committee (APMC) in Bihar. The result was that even one per cent of the state government’s food grain target could not be purchased at the minimum support price. This led to an increase in poverty and hence migration increased. Today, every other family has to migrate,” tweeted Lalu. RJD state president Jagdanand Singh said if the amendments in APMC were beneficial the results would have been seen. “But after 2006, the situation of farmers worsened in Bihar and instead of farming, many of them migrated to other states for livelihood,” Singh said. State Congress in-charge and party’s Rajya Sabha member Shaktisinh Gohil on Monday said they have asked President Kovind for an appointment and have requested him not to pass the “illegal Bill”. Gohil released his video standing outside Parliament in which he said, “Twelve political parties had asked for a division vote in Rajya Sabha, but the bill was passed without voting. The day will be remembered as a black day in the history of Parliament.” Further hitting out at PM Narendra Modi, he said, “The PM is lying that the minimum support price will not be hampered. Nowhere in the Bill has it been mentioned that on contract with firms, farmers will not be paid below MSP, or those paying below MSP will be punished. The PM has also insulted the farmers by saying that the letters had been misguided. They are more brilliant than those sitting in airconditioned rooms and the PM should apologize to farmers.” The state Congress youth wing president Gunjan Patel said, “They have passed an anti-farmer bill for a few big corporates and it is their trick to do away with MSP. They are anti-poor, anti-farmers and anti-youth.”

The Times of India

2020-09-22

Patna