Farmers Movement Archive

It’ll be a long battle, TRS warns Centre

Telangana Rashtra Samithi working president K.T. Rama Rao has warned the Central government of a long agitation against the three farm laws. His party, he said, would reach out to every farmer to explain how the Centre was compromising farmers’ interests to favour the corporates. He was speaking at a rasta roko at Burugula, near Shadnagar, in support of the Bharat Bandh called by the farmers’ organisations against the new farm Bills. Why was the Central government shying away from guaranteeing the MSP in the Bill itself, which the farmers want, he asked. When 85% of the farmers in the country were small and marginal, their only guard against exploitation was the MSP, which the government was not willing to consider. He reminded the Centre that it was not only the farmers’ loss but also of the middle class, as the prices of essential commodities were bound to spiral in the absence of government control. “Corporates will buy, stock, create artificial shortages and then make people pay the price they want,” he said. Bandh total, peaceful A total and peaceful bandh was observed across Telangana on Tuesday in response to a call given by several farmers’ organisations demanding repeal of the farm laws. All TRS Ministers, MPs, MLAs, MLCs, Zilla Parishad Chairpersons and other elected representatives, along with party workers, held demonstrations on highways and other important locations. Similarly, leaders of the Congress and Left parties, trade unions and employee associations participated in road blockades at several places. Commercial establishments remained closed in the morning, and RTC buses remained in depots following a call given by the ruling TRS to not commence operations till afternoon. RTC buses came onto the road only towards evening. Commercial establishments began operations early in the afternoon.

The Hindu

2020-12-09

Hyderabad