Farmers Movement Archive

Law to guarantee MSP in country will go against farmers of Haryana, Punjab: Dhankar

Bharatiya Janata Party’s Haryana unit chief OP Dhankar said that if a new law to guarantee minimum support price (MSP) to all farmers in country is enacted, it will affect farmers of Punjab and Haryana.“Since farmers of Haryana and Punjab are already getting benefits of MSP, if a new law (being demanded by the farmer leaders) is enacted it will affect farmers of these states as government has limits for procurements. If it procures foodgrains from all states, government agencies will not be able to procure the entire produce of farmers from Haryana and Punjab,” he said.He added that the government’s decision to continue with the present system shows its “love for farmers of Haryana and Punjab”.He said that the government had already given proposal to defer the laws for one-and-a-half year and the Supreme Court has stayed the implementation, but some people are agitating over predictions.He alleged that some people and political parties, especially Congress, have their political agendas behind this agitation. “Congress and the comrades are behind this agitation. They are hiding behind flags of farm unions,” he added.He said that farm leaders from Punjab should fight for their rights with their state government by holding protests against their government over hike in sugarcane prices and procurement of six crops on MSP on pattern of Haryana.Dhankar refuted the reports that Centre has asked Haryana government to remove protesting farmers from Delhi borders due to rising cases of Covid-19. “These reports are false,” he said.Dhankar faced protests from farmers when he reached Kurukshetra to attend a party workers’ meeting. Police had to use mild force to remove the protesters and hundreds of farmers were detained.Amid heavy police deployment and barricading, farmers managed to reach near the meeting venue at Ambedkar Bhawan.The sloganeering farmers also tried to jump the barricades.BKU (Charuni) spokesperson Rakesh Bains condemned the use of police to remove protesting farmers.Kurukshetra DSP Ravinder Singh Tomar said police made repeated requests to farmers but they were adamant and tried to remove the barricades, so we had to detain them. He refuted the allegations of police misbehaviour with the farmers.

Hindustan Times

17-04-2021

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