Farmers Movement Archive

Tejas questions ‘haste’ in passing farm Bills

Patna: Leader of opposition in state assembly Tejashwi Prasad Yadav on Tuesday hit out at the NDA government and questioned its “haste” in getting the farm Bills passed in the Parliament. Apart from Congress and RJD, which will hold protests on September 25 against the passage of the Bills, RLSP has also announced its support to the ‘Bharat bandh’ called by farmers’ unions on the same day. “NDA government has now made ‘anndatas (those who produce crops)’ puppets of its ‘funddatas (fundraisers)’. The haste in passing the Bills shows something was wrong. This government is not worried about farmers,” Tejashwi tweeted. He said farm was the only sector which was not privatized, but the NDA government did it for a few corporate giants. He said, “We are with the farmers and will raise their voice from Parliament to the road.” Tejashwi also took a jibe at PM Narendra Modi for inaugurating and laying the foundation of projects just before Bihar assembly elections. He said, “Now non-Biharis will always talk about Bihar during elections. While sleeping, eating, bathing, they will only talk about Bihar. After the election, they will forget. It has been raining for the past three days, but the CM is not concerned about floods.” RLSP chief Upendra Kushwaha described the passing of farm Bills as ‘khetbandi’. He also lashed out at CM Nitish Kumar for doing away with agriculture produce market committee (APMC) in Bihar after coming to power. “In Nitish’s regime, farmers are compelled to sell their produces at a very low cost. The way Nitish has supported these Bills shows his anti-farmer attitude,” Kushwaha said. Meanwhile, BJP leaders in state have criticised the unruly behaviour of opposition MPs in Rajya Sabha when the farm Bills were tabled. Union minister Nityanand Rai tweeted it was unfortunate that the opposition MPs heckled Harivansh, the deputy chairman of Rajya Sabha, by forgetting the decorum of the House. BJP’s Rajya Sabha MP and Bihar incharge Bhupendra Yadav said it was really unfortunate that the opposition MPs tore off the rule book and climbed up to the secretary general’s table to create ruckus.

The Times of India

2020-09-23

Patna