Farmers Movement Archive

Suspended MPs stay put in protest

Eight Opposition Rajya Sabha members suspended by the House earlier on Monday have begun an indefinite sit-in protest within Parliament, even as 15 non-NDA parties have appealed to President Ram Nath Kovind not to give assent to the two farm Bills passed in the Upper House on Sunday. The Opposition leaders will be marching to the President’s House on Tuesday. In the resolution, the parties citing Article 111 and Article 90 of the Constitution, have argued that the passage of the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020 and the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020 was flawed on many accounts. The joint resolution states that the issue raised by the Opposition parties strike at the very backbone of the Indian Republic — the community of farmers. “On an issue like this, majoritarian, insensitive and uncaring governance has no role and all stakeholders have to listen, absorb, imbibe and thereafter act with humility,” the resolution notes. It then goes on to raise, several question on the process followed to pass the bill, including denial of vote and not taking sense of the House before extending it beyond the scheduled time of 1 p.m. It also raised question on lack of quorum. ‘Rammed through’ It accused the government of “ramming legislation down the throat of disagreeing parliamentarians without allowing it to be tested freely and fairly by vote by division”. The signatories include the Congress, Trinamool Congress, DMK, Shiv Sena, TRS, Samajwadi Party, AAP, CPI(M), CPI, RJD and IUML. The Biju Janata Dal (BJD), which had asked for the Bills to be sent to a select committee for further scrutiny, has not signed the petition and neither has the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). The Shiromani Akali Dal, which was initially planning to sign the memorandum, backed out at the last minute because it is still part of the NDA. Soon after Rajya Sabha was adjourned for the day a little after noon, members of the Opposition marched to the Gandhi Statue on the Parliament premises, carrying placards reading “Democracy murdered”, “We will fight for the farmers” and held a silent protest. Derek O’Brien (Trinamool Congress), Sanjay Singh (AAP), Rajeev Satav (Congress), Syed Naseer Hussain(Congress), Ripun Bora (Congress), K.K. Ragesh (CPI(M)), Elamaram Kareem (CPI(M)) and Dola Sen (TMC) remained seated in a night-long dharna. Lawmakers from all the parties that had signed the memorandum to the President were also present.

The Hindu

2020-09-22

New Delhi