Farmers Movement Archive

No ‘ghar wapsi’ for farmers till farm laws are repealed: Jayant Chaudhary

Defying the ban on holding a large gathering, the leaders of Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) held a 'kisan panchayat' (a farmers congregation) in Sampurnanagar in Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur Kheri district on Thursday. RLD national vice president Jayant Chaudhary hit out at the Central government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi while addressing hundreds of farmers at the panchayat and claimed that farmers will not end protests unless the three contentious farm laws were repealed."If the government felt the farmers would retreat during summers or wheat harvesting season, it was mistaken. ...There will be no 'ghar wapsi' for farmers till the three anti-farmers laws are repealed,” Jayant said.Ravi Verma, national general secretary of Samajwadi Party and former Kheri MP and Congress leader Saif Ali Naqvi also shared the stage.Chaudhary also attacked Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh and alleged that the ruling party leaders were making a “mockery” of the farmers’ agitation with no sympathy shown to their “rightful” demands. Referring to PM Modi’s ‘andolanjeevi’ jibe on the “culture of protests”, he said, the statement indicated an insensitive approach of the government towards farmers.Jayant claimed that the agitation against the farm reform laws was the first grassroots movement of the farmers which was above any caste and creed and any attempt to divide the farmers will prove futile.Farmers have been protesting at the different borders of the national capital since November last year, against the three newly enacted farm laws - Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020; the Farmers Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and farm Services Act 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020. They claim the laws will take away the ‘mandi’ system and the minimum support prices (MSP), guaranteed by the government for their produce, and also make them vulnerable to exploitation at the hands of the corporate. The government has, however, termed the laws as necessary reforms needed to unlock the sector’s potential for modernisation and growth while increasing farmers’ income.Also Read: Farmers union writes to President demanding end to 'repression' on protestersChaudhary said when Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat in 2011, he had written a letter to then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, demanding a law to guarantee minimum support price (MSP) to the farmers. “Now, when Modi is the PM, he has no intention to fulfil his own old demand,” Jayant said.Hitting out at Yogi Adityanath, the RLD leader said, “Around three and a half years back, Yogi government formed a Kisan Samriddhi Ayog but not even a single meeting of the Ayog had taken place so far.”

Hindustan Times

26-02-2021

Lucknow