Farmers Movement Archive

Farm laws: Agriculture minister has a suggestion and a warning for opposition

Union agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Monday urged opposition parties to not indulge in politics over the three farm laws, which have triggered protests by farmers who have been camping at Delhi borders for more than two months now. Several political parties announced to boycott the laws during the Budget Session of Parliament."I appeal to the political parties to not engage in politics every time. Those who play politics on every matter meet the same fate as that of opposing parties presently,” Tomar said, according to news agency ANI.Also Read | Budget silent on 'agricultural unrest', ignores 'entire north India': Punjab FMMany political parties, including the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Congress, Trinamool Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) have announced to boycott the farm laws and support the farmers' agitation. Before this, as many as 16 political parties boycotted President Ram Nath Kovind's address to both the Houses of Parliament over the farm legislation. The leaders had also lashed out at the ruling-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), calling it arrogant, adamant and undemocratic.NCP chief Sharad Pawar criticised the latest reforms in series of tweets. A former agriculture minister, Pawar said that the new laws will adversely affect the Minimum Support Price (MSP) and it will also weaken the mandi system. The criticism was rejected by Tomar as he said that Pawar is not bringing out "correct facts" and is "misinformed" about the laws.Tends of thousands of farmers camping at Delhi's borders are demanding a repeal of the laws and a legal guarantee for minimum support price (MSP) for the procurement of their crops. Agitating farmers claim that the new laws will weaken the MSP system, despite the Centre seeking to assure them in vain that the MSP system was here to stay and the new laws would only provide more options for farmers to sell their produce.The government has held several rounds of talks with the leaders of the farmers but has failed to bring any resolution to the matter so far.Earlier in the day, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the government is ready for talks with the protesting farmers as it is the "only solution." Sitharaman made the comments while responding to a question during the post-budget press briefing. "We can understand why farmers are sitting at the border. If any farmer has any question, agriculture minister (Narendra Singh Tomar) has never denied opportunities for talk," Sitharaman said.

Hindustan Times

01-02-2021

India