Farmers’ Protest: Opposition Delegation Including Rahul Gandhi, Sharad Pawar To Meet President Today; Will Seek Repeal Of Laws

The delegation will be representing 24 political parties which have come together to support the farmers' agitation and sign a memorandum highlighting their concerns and issues.

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Farmers' Protest: A five member opposition delegation which will include leaders like Rahul Gandhi and NCP chief Sharad Pawar among others, will be meeting President Ram Nath Kovind on Wednesday in the evening, over concerns on the three contentious farm laws of the Centre. The delegation will be representing 24 political parties which have come together to support the farmers' agitation and sign a memorandum highlighting their concerns and issues once again The motive of the meeting is to seek a retraction of the laws which have brought thousands of farmers on street to stage protests. CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury said that the five-member delegation — Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, NCP chief Sharad Pawar, a representative of the DMK, CPI general secretary D Raja and he — will meet the President tomorrow at 5 pm on behalf of the Opposition parties. “The five of us will probably meet before we meet the President and finalise our strategy. We have spoken to all Opposition leaders and decided our next course of action. The delegation has been limited to five because of the COVID-19 situation although we are trying to see if they allow more leaders to join. In that case we have to rush leaders to Delhi as they are mostly in their respective states,” said Yechury. Almost all the opposition parties have extended support to the farmers’ agitation. They also backed the nationwide strike that was called on Tuesday. However, Congress leader Digvijay Singh tweeted that  he has no hope from the President.

राष्ट्रपति जी से किसान विरोधी क़ानून को वापस लेने के लिए 24 राजनैतिक दलों का डेलीगेशन आज मिलने जा रहा है। मुझे महामहिम जी से कोई उम्मीद नहीं है। इन 24 राजनैतिक दलों को NDA में उन सभी दलों से भी चर्चा करना चाहिए जो किसानों के साथ हैं। नितीश जी को मोदी जी पर दबाव डालना चाहिए

— digvijaya singh (@digvijaya_28) December 9, 2020

The three farm laws enacted in September have been projected by the government as major reforms in the agriculture sector that will remove the middlemen and allow farmers to sell anywhere in the country. However, the protesting farmers have expressed apprehension that 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