Farmers Movement Archive

‘Will suffer big defeat’: Digvijaya Singh warns Dushyant Chautala against supporting BJP on ‘anti-farmer’ bills

Amid protests by farmers in Punjab and Haryana against the central government’s three new farm bills, senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on Friday ‘warned’ Haryana deputy chief minister Dushyant Chautala not to support the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on the ‘anti-farmer bills.’Singh also ‘congratulated’ Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Harsimrat Kaur Badal for resigning from the Union cabinet in protest against the legislations.“I want to congratulate Harsimrat Kaur Badal for resigning from the government in support of farmers and would want Dushyant Chautala not to support the BJP on these anti-farmer bills, otherwise he will suffer big defeat in future. He should support farmers,” the senior Congress leader said. Chautala’s Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) is in alliance with the BJP in Haryana and Punjab’s SAD, meanwhile, is the BJP’s oldest ally. Badal was the sole SAD representative in the central government, holding the food processing industries portfolio.Singh further praised his party for ‘making the Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC) Act pro-farmers.’ “Congress government had made APMC Act in favour of farmers. But now, any big trader can open a mandi and under these new anti-farmer bills, any dispute at mandi will be handled by officials. All these four anti-farmer ordinances should be seen in totality,” he further said.Farmers are against these bills as, according to them, these would lead to complete dismantling of the minimum support price (MSP) system. Opposition parties, including the Congress, have vociferously protested against these legislations in Parliament. However, PM Modi has assured farmers MSP would not be withdrawn. The three contentious bills are: The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill, 2020, Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020, and Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020.While the Lok Sabha passed the latter two on Thursday, the former was passed by it on Tuesday.

Hindustan Times

18-09-2020

India