Mamata Banerjee Warns Of Pan-India Agitation Against Farm Laws; Seeks Immediate Withdrawal Of Laws

Taking to her official Twitter handle, the West Bengal Chief Minister launched attack at the Centre over not heeding to the demands of the farmers who have been protesting for a week now.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee

Farmers' Protest: As the ongoing protests of farmers in the national capital clocked a week, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee threatened to launch a nation-wide agitation if the contentious farm laws were not retracted. Also Read: Farmers' Protest Prakash Singh Badal Returns Padma Vibhushan As Round 2 Talks To Resolve Deadlock Underway Taking to her official Twitter handle, the West Bengal Chief Minister launched attack at the Centre over not heeding to the demands of the farmers who have been protesting for a week now.  She said that her party has been opposing the “anti-farmer bills” since the very start. Her attack comes just ahead of the key meeting between the Centre and the farmer leaders. The meeting is expected to be a decisive one as the first round went inconclusive with the Centre asking a written document from the farmers’ bodies. A group of more than 34 farmer leaders put out a five-point set of demands that seeks to frame a specific law on Minimum Support Price (MSP) and end the punishment provision for stubble burning, during the fourth round of talks with the Central government here on Thursday. “I am very much concerned about the farmers, their lives and livelihood. GOI must withdraw the anti-farmer bills. If they do not do so immediately, we will agitate throughout the state and the country. From the very start, we have been strongly opposing these anti-farmer bills,” Mamata said in a tweet. “We have called a meeting of the All India Trinamool Congress on Friday, December 4. We will discuss how the Essential Commodities Act is impacting common people and resulting in sky rocketing prices. The central government must withdraw this anti-people law,” she said in another Twitter post. She also attacked the government over privatization and disinvestment policy. She said, “The GOI is selling everything. You cannot sell Railways, Air India, Coal, BSNL, BHEL, banks, defence, etc. Withdraw ill-conceived disinvestment and  privatisation policy. We must not allow treasures of our nation to be transformed into BJP party’s personal assets.” The farmer union representatives on Thursday, emphasised that a new law on MSP be framed in a special session of Parliament, demanding that it must guarantee them MSP not only now but in the future as well.