Congress and BJP spar over new Farm Bills
New Delhi: A day after both the Houses of the Parliament adjourned sine die, the war of words begin between Congress and BJP over the passage of farmer's bill as the Congress has termed three farm bills "anti-farmer", while the BJP accused the Congress of "double-faced" politics over the contentious farm bills.
Citing Bihar as an example, Congress said that in 2006 the APMC Act was abolished in the state resulting in a bad situation for farmers whose produce was purchased at cheaper rates by middlemen and sold in other states at MSP after earning profits.
"The three anti-farmer bills passed by the BJP government will adversely affect the interests of 62 crore farmers and farm labourers by destroying the APMC. The farmers will neither get the minimum support price (MSP), nor will they get the market rate of his produce," said Pawan Khera, who is party's national spokesperson.
Meanwhile, former Congress president Rahul Gandhi and party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra took to Twitter to criticise the government on the three labour bills, which were approved by Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.
"After farmers, workers have been targeted. Exploitation of the poor, nurturing of 'friends', this is Modi ji's rule," Rahul Gandhi said in a tweet.
In another tweet later in the day, he took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi's interaction with fitness experts and influencers from across the country to mark the one-year anniversary of the Fit India Movement.
"Modi government's priorities -- instead of talking to farmers and workers to find a solution to their problems, busy in PR," he posted, tagging a media report on the prime minister's interaction.
Priyanka Gandhi, who also tweeted in Hindi, said, "Look at the BJP government's priority -- The BJP government has brought in a law that will make it easier to remove employees from their jobs."
The Congress has further alleged that the BJP government under the garb of new legislation wants to implement the Shanta Kumar Committee Report to end the procurement system based on MSP through the FCI.
However, the BJP has asked Rahul Gandhi to first disassociate his party from its 2019 election manifesto if he wanted to oppose these legislations as it had also promised what the Modi government has done.
Senior BJP leader and Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said that the government is committed to farmers' welfare and the new measures would bring them remunerative price for their produce.
Tomar also said that the government is open to holding talks with farmers, asserting, "if any farmer wants to speak to any government representative on these bills even at midnight, we are ready."
