Farmers Movement Archive

Trinamool Congress to launch series of protests against farms bills from today

The ruling party in West Bengal, Trinamool Congress, will hit the streets to protest the passage of contentious farm bills starting from Tuesday in Kolkata. Parallel protests are going on outside the Parliament. Two of the party’s senior Rajya Sabha members – Derek O’Brien and Dola Sen – were suspended for a week on Monday for “unruly behaviour” that took place as the upper house of the Parliament passed two controversial bills relating to the agriculture sector on Sunday. Condemning the two bills, chief minister and party supremo Mamata Banerjee said that the TMC will launch a series of protests against the bills every day starting from Tuesday. “The party will stage continuous protests starting from Tuesday. On September 22, the party’s women wing will hold a dharna near Gandhi statue in Kolkata. The youth wing will stage a protest on Wednesday followed by farmers and labourers,” Banerjee said. Also read: Despite BJD’s opposition to twin farm bills, Odisha farmer leaders aren’t impressedTuesday’s protests in central Kolkata would be led by Chandrima Bhattacharya, the minister of state for health in West Bengal. The TMC chief also called on all parties to unitedly oppose the farm bills and assured her party’s support. Meanwhile, the Congress and the Left Front have also decided to hit the streets on September 25 to protest the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020, and the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020. Among the eight suspended MPs, while two were from the TMC, three were from the Congress party and two were CPI(M) lawmakers. One was from the Aam Aadmi Party. In the Unlock 4 guidelines, the Union home ministry had earlier said that political functions could be held with a ceiling of 100 people from September 21. “Because of the pandemic, there is a restriction on the number of people that can gather. Hence, we will stage the protest following protocols and not bring in a large number of people,” Banerjee said.

Hindustan Times

22-09-2020

India