Leaders of 10 farmer unions extend support to new farm laws
23 Dec 2020
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Amidst wild protests organised by anti-Modi elements in the northern agricultural belt, 10 organisations from various states like Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Bihar and Haryana, associated with All India Kisan Coordination Committee (AIKCC), have met union agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar, to extend their support to the three farm legislations.
In fact, the leaders threatened to hit the street if the centre buckles under pressure and dilutes the laws. They argued that the farmers should not be forced to adhere to the APMCs.
The memorandum also listed other demands such as making available modern technology to farmers, reduction of GST on farm equipment and fertilizers and the complete repeal of the Essential Commodities Act.
The AIKCC expressed gratitude for passing the legislationand requested government not to give in to the pressure tactics of vested interests.
They said they have come together from different parts of the country to express their gratitude towards the central government for bringing in such laws which would change the fate of the farmers in the country.
These representatives of farmers’ unions handed over a memorandum to the minister slamming those few elements who were trying to sabotage the farm laws by spreading misinformation and instigate the farmers to rise in protest.
The farmer leaders stated that while the AIKCC has always raised its voice against laws that exploit farmers in the last three decades and would continue to do so, it would never try to mislead farmers.
The new laws, it said, would mark a new beginning for the farmers and that these elements involved in the farmer’s stir were trying to push the farmers back into the dungeons by provoking them against these laws brought by the Modi government.
AIKCC has presence in 28 states and is considered as one of the largest farmer organisations in India.
Union agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar is reported to have assured representatives of farmer organisations that the government will not take any retrograde step that would go against the interests of farmers.
Tomar has been leading the negotiations with 40 farmer unions, along with food minister Piyush Goyal and minister of state for commerce and industries Som Parkash. “We tried to convince farmers and farmer unions leaders. Our wish is that they come for clause-by-clause discussion. If they are ready to express their views clause by clause, we are ready for discussion,” he said.
The three farm laws, enacted in September, are seen as major reforms in the agriculture sector that will remove the middlemen and allow farmers to sell anywhere in the country, thereby getting them the best price for their produce.
The protesters, however, insist the new laws would pave the way for eliminating the safety cushion of Minimum Support Price and do away with the mandis, leaving them at the mercy of big corporates, a fallacy that the Congress and the leftist liberals have been peddling to mislead farmers. The Modi government has, again and again, been stressing that they are neither abolishing APMC Mandis not repealing MSPs.
Meanwhile, BJP general secretary Arun Singh on Monday claimed that more than 99 per cent farmers in the country are with the Modi government. "More than 99 per cent farmers in the country are with the Modi government and if there is confusion among the rest, we will sit and the confusion will be removed," he said,
He alleged that the Congress fuelled the ongoing farmers’ agitation.
On the BJP ally Rashtriya Loktantrik Party supporting the farmers’ agitation and threatening to sever ties with the NDA, Singh said his party leaders will persuade its chief Hanuman Beniwal when he talks to them.
‘Farmer protests’ are nothing but manufactured perception to fool the country, protestors constitute less than 1 per cent of real farmers in the country, he said.
In 2008, Punjab and Haryana farmers led by Bharatiya Kisan Union protested against UPA govt for forcing them to sell at MSP, now they want to preserve it!
