Farmers Movement Archive

Bengal BJP delegation to meet Governor over TMC’s ‘double standards’ on farm bills

A delegation of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) West Bengal unit is likely to meet Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar at around 11 am on Wednesday to apprise him about the alleged double standards being maintained by the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) regarding the farm bills. The passage of the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020; The Farmers’ (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020; and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill, 2020 during the ongoing 18-day uninterrupted monsoon session of Parliament has riled opposition parties, including the TMC-run government in Bengal.The BJP delegation, led by Jay Prakash Majumdar, state vice-president, will comprise other senior members of the opposition party, who will meet Governor Dhankar. Also Read: Trinamool Congress to launch series of protests against farms bills from todayThe TMC has since started staging protests in Kolkata from Tuesday against the contentious farm bills passed in the Rajya Sabha (RS) on Sunday and the Industrial Relations Code Bill, 2020 in the Lok Sabha (LS). In the latter, the government has proposed to introduce more conditions that will restrict the rights of workers to strike coupled with an increase in the threshold relating to layoffs and retrenchment in industrial establishments, which have 300 workers from the existing rule of 100 employees. These measures are likely to provide more flexibility to employers for hiring and firing of workers without government’s permission.On Wednesday, the TMC’s youth wing is scheduled to hold a rally against these new laws. West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee has condemned the legislations. Also Read: Sonia, Rahul return to India amid Opposition’s standoff with government over farm billsShe has said that the passage of farm bills would trigger a food pandemic in the country and wipe off small and marginal farmers. On September 9, Banerjee had written to the Centre suggesting that she was open to implementation of the Prime Minister Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme for farmers and the Ayushman Bharat Yojana healthcare scheme if the funds were transferred directly to her government for disbursement. However, Governor Dhankhar, a trenchant critic of the Banerjee-led dispensation, targeted the state government over the CM’s proposal. He cited that funds for Central welfare schemes go directly to the beneficiaries and never routed through the state government for disbursal.

Hindustan Times

23-09-2020

Kolkata