Farm Bills Row: Congress Begins Its 2-Months-Long Nationwide Protest Against Govt Over Anti-Farmers' Law

Congress set to hold a two-month long mass movement against the recent agrarian reform bills which were passed by the Parliament during the monsoon session.

Image (PTI)

New Delhi: Even as the parliament concluded its Monsoon Session, farmers, and the opposition have continued to protest against the new agrarian bills which have been termed as 'anti-farmer' and 'anti-poor'. Now according to a report by  Hindustan Times, the main opposition party, Congress will launch from Thursday, 24 September 2020 a two-month-long ‘mass movement’ against the government over the farm bills. It also plans to collect 2 crore signatures from farmers protestinh against the bills. The report says that the decision for the protest was taken on Monday during the meeting of general secretaries and in-charge of states at the party headquarters in Delhi. The party plans a series of events, such as press conferences, walks to Raj Bhavan to submit a memorandum to governors, and Kisan-Mazdoor Bachao Divas on October 2nd, birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. "This movement will conclude on November 14. The party will take the signatures of 2 crore farmers (against the bills) and hand them over to the President," said ormer Union Minister AK Antony in a press conference in a report by ANI. The three new farm bills which were passed by the parliament have raised concerns as farmers fear that they will no longer get paid at MSP. They want profitable sales in the form of minimum support prices (MSPs) to be a legal right. The farmers have also demanded a separate ordinance to provide a clear provision that if any agency buys the crop of the farmer below the MSP, then legal action will be taken against it. Commission agents are also concerned that they will lose their commissions in mandis and influential agents do not want to lose grip over the farmers. Farmers in both Punjab and Haryana have been protesting against the legislation for weeks and the Punjab farmers' body had announced a three-day ‘rail roko’ agitation across the state from September 24-26. Different farmer organisations in Punjab have given a call for a ‘bandh’ on September 25 in protest against the three farm bills. The farmers argue that the legislations would lead to the dismantling of the minimum support price (MSP) system, leaving them at the ‘mercy’ of big corporates. On the other hand, Minister of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, NS Tomar has said that Congress is misleading the farmers with 'baseless points' “Congress and some opposition parties are misleading farmers for personal gains as they themselves couldn't bring such reforms. Manmohan Singh and Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar wanted to bring reforms, but due to pressure from some people, UPA couldn’t muster the courage,” said Tomar in a report by ANI. Opposition leader Ghulam Nabi Azad also met President Ram Nath Kovind on Wednesday and urged him to not give his assent to the bills. WATCH NOW:Anurag Thakur Exclusive: Why is MSP not mentioned in Farm Bills 2020?