NEW DELHI/MUMBAI: A day after Union agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar said the government hasn’t given up on farm reforms, the Congress on Saturday accused the Centre of hatching a conspiracy to bring back the three repealed farm laws after the next round of Assembly polls.
“We brought agriculture amendment laws to reform the sector, but some people did not like the laws. We are not disappointed; we have moved a step back and we will move forward again because farmers are the country’s backbone,” Tomar had said while inaugurating Agro Vision Expo in Nagpur on Friday. Union Minister Nitin Gadkari was also present on the occasion.
Reacting sharply, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said the country’s agriculture minister has “insulted Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s apology to farmers,” adding that protests will start again if the Modi
government takes any anti-farmer step.
Congress media incharge R S Surjewala said the party had always suspected the intent of the PM. “Perceiving defeat in the five state elections including Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Punjab, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had apologised and repealed the three black laws in Parliament. This happened after the longest, most peaceful, Gandhian agitation for over 380 days on the borders of Delhi where over 700 farmers sacrificed their lives,” Surjewala said. He pointed out that that on November 21, Rajasthan Governor Kalraj Mishra had said the three farm laws would be brought back and BJP MP Sakshi Maharaj too had made a similar statement.
The three contentious farm laws -- Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020; Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020; and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020 – were passed by Parliament in September last year. After widespread protests by various farmer unions, the Centre repealed the three laws by passing the Farm Laws Repeal Act on November 29.