New agriculture Bills will enslave farmers, says Rahul
Item
Title
New agriculture Bills will enslave farmers, says Rahul
Description
Coinciding with the nationwide farmer’s agitation, former Congress President Rahul Gandhi shared a three-minute video chat with farmers discussing the three farm Bills recently passed by Parliament. Mr. Gandhi held a video chat with 10 farmers from Haryana, Bihar and Maharashtra, discussing the new agricultural laws. The farmers expressed concerns that the laws will enable corporate houses to buy their produce below the minimum support price (MSP) rates. They also said the government should ensure any person buying produce below the MSP rate should be deemed illegal and made a punishable offence. The farmers also feared that the new laws will help big business houses to buy their land and reduce them to farm workers. They said these laws are like the return of the East India Company, to which Mr. Gandhi quipped, “There was an East India Company, now there is a West India company.” ‘For India’s future’ “These laws will have to be opposed for the future of India. A farmer’s voice has immense strength; it was the farmer’s voice that helped us win our freedom. And farmer’s protests will get us freedom again,” he said. Earlier in the day, Mr. Gandhi in a tweet had said the micro, small and medium scale industries (MSMEs) were destroyed by an erroneous GST, and now new agricultural laws will enslave our farmers.
Publisher
The Hindu
Date
2020-09-26
Coverage
New Delhi