Minister for Agriculture Narendra Singh Tomar on Thursday castigated the Congress for opposing the new agriculture bills, saying the party’s leadership has become stunted and that it was trying to mislead farmers for its own vested interests.
His comments came as several farmers’ outfits intensified their agitation against the three farming bills and began a three-day “rail roko” protest.
“I feel Congress leadership has become stunted,” Tomar told ANI in an interview. “Neither do they understand agriculture nor the good or bad of the country. The good people in Congress are not being heard and the leadership of the party is in the hands of those to whom people do not listen, even inside the party. That is why they are trying to mislead the country by saying this and that.”
Tomar claimed that former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and former Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar wanted to bring reforms but could not do so under pressure. “Congress is irrelevant now, it is trying to rejuvenate itself but the people have rejected them and they will reject it again on this issue,” he told the news agency.
The minister accused opposition parties of creating a “purely political” controversy.
“In the Lok Sabha, discussions were held for four hours and the bills were passed,” he said. “In the Rajya Sabha too, 4 to 4.5 hours discussion were held, every party’s leaders expressed their opinions, then the deputy chairman asked me to reply. Suddenly in an undemocratic manner, they tried to disrupt the session, they did a cowardly act with the deputy chairman and misbehaved with him.”
Three controversial Bills on agriculture reforms are set to become law after being passed by the Rajya Sabha on September 20 in the middle of utter pandemonium. The three bills are the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill. The last one was also approved by a voice vote in Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.
Critics say that these new agricultural policies will lead to farmers losing out on guaranteed purchase prices for their crops, to the benefit of large corporations.
Opposition parties held three rounds of protests in Parliament on the last day of the Monsoon Session of Parliament on Wednesday. Congress MP and Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad had also met President Ram Nath Kovind and requested him to not give his assent to the three farm bills passed in Parliament.
Opposition leaders have also asked that the bills be sent to a select committee, which Tomar dismissed. He claimed the agriculture bills would give farmers the freedom they have been devoid of since years. “So if Narendra Modi wants to give them this right today and the transactions can happen without tax, what problems can anyone have, what will the select committee do,” Tomar asked.
Tomar claimed that the bills will bring “revolutionary changes” in the lives of farmers as they can sell their produce to any buyer, get a guarantee of price of their crops, go for crop diversification, use new technology and reduce their input costs. He added that it would free farmers from chains of the Agricultural Produce Market Committee.
“Small farmers can now get a guarantee of their produce during the sowing of the crop,” the minister said. “They can now go for expensive crops, use new technology, new seeds, good pesticides and reduce the input cost. These bills are crucial and will bring revolutionary changes in the lives of farmers. I want to tell farmers that when provisions of these bills will be implemented, there will change in their lives.”
While the Opposition said the “anti-farmer” bills were passed in an undemocratic manner, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party accused them of disrupting parliamentary proceedings. But neither the Centre nor the Rajya Sabha chairperson and his deputy have offered an explanation as to why a division vote was not allowed on the farm bills, despite the fact that several parties were opposed to the bills.
The agriculture minister in his interview also reiterated that the Minimum Support Price system will continue as in the past. “We have already announced the MSP for Rabi crops,” he continued. “I want to ask them whether MSP was part of any law before. Congress was in power for 50 years why did they not put MSP into law? MSP is not part of any law. Since Congress has nothing to say on bills, that’s why they are talking about MSP.”
He also attacked Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, who had called the Narendra Modi government’s MSP hike “callous” and a “mockery of farmers’ protest”. “Punjab chief minister is giving political statements, I want to ask him when he was fighting elections why did he keep it in his manifesto that APMC will be changed, tax will be ended and inter-state sale will be promoted,” Tomar asked. “Congress kept it in its national as well as state manifestos. Any Congress leader, whether national or state level, should first say that they are going back on the promises made in their manifesto, then I am ready to hear their arguments else their arguments are not worthy of being heard, they are misleading and are meant to confuse the farmers.”
Amarinder Singh has vehemently opposed the farm bills along with the Shiromani Akali Dal, one of the oldest allies of the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Tomar urged the Opposition not to rake up controversies about the bills. “When we talk about farmers, there should not be politics on it,” he said. “There has been a lot of injustice and exploitation of farmers. The Modi government has provided the freedom to farmers through these bills.”
Also read:
- Modi insists farm bills have nothing to do with MSP – so why are farmers protesting?
- Dubious voice vote to pass critical farm bills severely dents Indian democracy
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