Farmers Movement Archive

Opposition parties walk out of both Houses

The Congress leader also also invoked late BJP leader Arun Jaitley, who has said in 2016 that the government becomes illegitimate if a division of votes is denied. DMK’s Tiruchi Siva, SP’s Ramgopal Yadav, Keshava Rao of the TRS, NCP’s Praful Patel spoke on the issue, before staging a walkout. Mr. Siva said the events of Sunday were triggered by the treatment meted out to the Opposition parties. Even before Lok Sabha was convened, the Opposition parties had decided that to stage a similar boycott. As soon as the House convened, the Opposition benches raised issues of personal safety of MPs who were protesting against the three farm sector Bills passed by Parliament. Congress MP Ravneet Singh Bittu said he and fellow MPs Santokh Singh Chaudhary and Gurdeep Singh Aujla were physically assaulted by the Delhi police near Parliament House on Monday night as they sought to light candles in protest at Vijay Chowk. Speaker Om Birla assured the members of an enquiry into the incident. This was followed by Congress Legislature Party leader in the Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Choudhary stating that the farm Bills needed to incorporate the provision for Minimum Support Prices (MSP) and pointed out that the MSP hike for Rabi crops announced on Monday was the lowest in 11 years. Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar insisted that the amendments would help the farmers. He added, “Rs. 1 lakh infra development fund has been allocated, direct cash transfers are being made to the farmers. I am surprised over the Congress leaders’ protests, given that it had promised to implement the same.” At this Mr. Chowdhary declared that the Opposition would be boycotting the House till the end of the Session unless the government withdraws the farm Bills.

The Hindu

2020-09-23

September 23 2020 00:00 IST