‘Don't Want Jumlas’: Congress Supports Bharat Bandh Call By Farmer Unions, Asks Govt To Resume Talks

Talks have not resumed after farmers’ unions rejected the Centre’s proposal for suspending implementation of the contentious agrarian laws for 1.5 years.

Representative Photo: PTI

New Delhi: The Congress on Saturday announced support for the Bharat Bandh call given by farmer unions against the Centre’s three contentious agrarian laws, demanding that discussions be initiated with the protesters.

Congress spokesperson Gourav Vallabh revealed that the Congress party and all its workers will support the “peaceful Bharat Bandh on September 27, called by farmer unions and farmers”.

“We demand that the due process of discussion with the farmers should be initiated because they have been sitting on the borders of Delhi for more than nine months. We demand that these three black laws, which were imposed without any consultation, should be taken back,” he added, as quoted by news agency PTI.

Congress Party’s Allegations

The Congress leader also spoke about the concerns regarding Minimum Support Price (MSP), saying that it should be given as a legal right to every farmer “as they do not want only ‘jumlas’ (rhetoric)”. He referred to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s promise to double the farmers’ income by 2022.

“If we compare 2012-13 income of a farmer family with his income in 2018-19, the income due to farming in the total income of a farmer has reduced from 48 per cent to 38 per cent,” he claimed.

Citing the Situation Assessment Survey of the Government of India, Gourav Vallabh stated that a farmer on average is earning Rs 27 per day.

He further claimed that the agriculture sector suffered a permanent dent in the last seven years.

Gourav Vallabh alleged that the Modi government “first tried to usurp farmers’ land by bringing in the Land Acquisition Ordinance in 2014 and then in 2015, it filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court that if farmers’ produce is purchased on MSP, as per the formula given by Swaminathan Commission, the markets are going to be distorted”.

He even claimed that in the name of agriculture insurance, the government gave a major portion of the agriculture budget to insurance companies, even as the cost of farming per hectare went up by Rs 25,000.

“This is also the first government in the last 70 years that has imposed a tax on agriculture in the form of GST, which has also been imposed on tractors, pesticides, seeds and farm equipment, and the agriculture sector is being taxed indirectly,” he said.

He went on to say that the move resulted in the average debt of a farmer, which was Rs 47,000 in 2012-13, increasing to Rs 74,121 in 2018-19.

This is the reason the Congress is supporting the Bandh, the spokesperson said.

The Congress leader stressed that the farmers are demanding the withdrawal of three "black laws which were imposed without following any democratic process or consultation".

“They are only demanding that MSP should be given as a legal right to every farmer... I am surprised that why Prime Minister Modi is opposing Chief Minister Modi? When UPA-2 was in power, Chief Minister Modi gave in writing that MSP should be given as a legal right, now he is opposing his own words and his entire party is opposing his words,” he claimed, as quoted by PTI.

Agrarian Laws & Farmers’ Protest

The government and farmer unions have held 11 rounds of talks so far, the last being on January 22, to end the deadlock caused by the farmers’ protest. Talks have not resumed after farmers’ unions rejected Centre’s proposal for suspending implementation of the contentious laws for 1.5 years.

The Union government hoped that the time could be utilised to further the talks with farmers until a common ground is reached. However, farmers’ unions refused to settle for anything other than a full repeal.

The three laws -- The Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020, and The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act 2020 -- were passed by the Parliament in September last year.

Farmer groups have alleged that these laws will end the mandi and MSP procurement systems and leave the farmers at the mercy of big corporations. On the other hand, the Union government has rejected these apprehensions, terming them as misplaced and asserted that these steps will help increase farmers’ income.

The Supreme Court had in January stayed the implementation of the three laws till further orders and appointed a panel to resolve the impasse.