Farmers' protests: Oppn corners Centre; asks to stop monologue, start dialogue

New Delhi: It was the Opposition parties' day in Rajya Sabha on Thursday as they took their turn in attacking the government for the passage of controversial three farm laws under acrimonious scenes in September last year and demanded the repeal of all three laws. Callings its dialogues with the protestors "monologues", opposition parties said that instead of putting barricades, cement blocks, concertina wires and spikes, the government should have built bridges to win over them.

The scenes in Lok Sabha were different from the Upper House as the protests by Opposition members demanding a separate discussion on the three contentious farm laws created an uproar that led to repeated adjournments of the House and finally adjourned for the day after the House re-assembled at 5 pm.

In Rajya Sabha, former Prime Minister HD Devegowda took the lead and suggested the government to hold talks with protesting farmers instead of building concrete walls and demanded roll-back of the farm laws.

Raising the issue of the farmers' protest during his motion of thanks over the President's speech, Devegowda said, "I am in the last leg of my life. I demand that the government end this matter peacefully. Let them call for a meeting with farmers' delegations. The government thinks punishing them will solve issues. But farmers are not responsible for what happened on January 26."

Criticising the move to put barricades, cement blocks, etc at the farmer protest sites on Delhi's borderss, CPI(M) Rajya Sabha member Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya said, "Withdraw your farm laws and sit with them (farmers).... You cannot invite them for negotiations by putting concrete walls, by stopping their approach to the city. This is not the way a democratic government does it."

Trinamool Congress leader Derek O'Brien asked the government to repeal the three controversial farm laws and offered a "Repealing Bill 2021" drafted by him for the purpose.

Participating in a discussion on the motion of thanks on the President's address in the Rajya Sabha, the TMC MP also asked the Union Home Minister to conduct a "proper inquiry" into the death of a farmer during the tractor parade in Delhi on Republic Day so that the truth could come out.

He interrupted his speech to observe a minute's silence in the House along with other Opposition leaders, mainly the Congress, to pay tribute to farmers who had lost their lives during the two-month agitation.

The TMC leader also took a jibe at the government by saying that we must be thankful for small freedoms like the freedom to speak without the mike being muted and the freedom to express ourselves without being dragged out by marshals.

Hitting out at the government, AAP leader Sanjay Singh slammed the BJP and said that saffron party workers stormed the Red Fort and disrespected

the Flag.

"On seven routes farmers marched peacefully on January 26, those who stormed Red Fort and disrespected Tricolour belong to BJP. Deep Sidhu is a BJP man. He has met PM Modi. They can stoop to any level for their politics. The Internet has also been shut down there," he alleged. Singh also said that AAP would continue to support farmers.

Congress leader Deepinder Hooda said that the government should not question the patriotism of farmers as they are the ones who have made the country self-sufficient in food.

However, he said the government should show a big heart and accept the demands of the farmers by repealing the three new farm laws.

Slamming the government for its reaction on tweets by celebrities on farmers' the issue, RJD MP Manoj Kumar Jha said, "Our democracy is strong, it will not be weakened by anyone's tweet."