Hitting out at Modi government over farm laws on Wednesday, Member of Parliament Santokh Singh Chaudhary said that the government has made the said laws an issue of ego and instead of holding discussions in good faith, the BJP ministers are trying to discredit and defame the annadata.
In a statement, he said that on one hand, the ministers are negotiating with farmers’ unions, while on the other, the BJP is labelling the annadata as khalistanis, Pakistanis, naxals, Maoists and terrorists. “Our sons of soil fill the government's granaries and fight at international borders, but this ungrateful regime only insults them by using these baseless labels for them,” he added.
He said due to hard work and dedication of the farmers, India’s agriculture has survived even the COVID-19 pandemic and posted positive growth rates, but these laws would act as death warrants and destroy it.
The Congress MP questioned the need to bring the three laws as ordinances during the pandemic. He said under Article 123 of the Constitution of India, an ordinance can only be promulgated when there is a necessity to take immediate action, but these farm ordinances were not necessary, which, moreover, were brought without consulting the farmers. “Whenever the government makes policies related to any sector, the stakeholders are always consulted, but in case of these laws, the farmers were kept in the dark,” he said.
The senior Congress leader further said that the laws were beyond the legislative competence of the Parliament as agriculture is a state subject, at Entry No. 14 of List II under Schedule VII of the Constitution and therefore, the Modi government had no right to bring these legislations.
Despite months long strong protests of farmers and opposition parties, MP Chaudhary stated, the government has refused to repeal the laws and made the entire matter an issue of ego, adding that in a democracy, the voice of people is always supreme, but according to Central government, there’s ‘too much democracy’ in India and hence, only the inflated ego of PM matters.
He said the government has now offered to discuss the laws clause by clause, but in Parliament, they bulldozed them through instead of resolving the issues raised by the MPs including himself.
MP Chaudhary said the Modi government has a history of introducing major decisions including demonetisation and GST as beneficial, but they always caused harm to people and the same would happen in case of these laws. “Only the crony capitalists are happy with the Modi government, while everyone else including dalits, adivasis, students, teachers, minorities, farmers and labourers are opposing its oppressive policies,” he added.
He demanded that the government should immediately call the winter session of Parliament and the farm laws should be repealed.