Kisan Sansad: Resolution passed against APMC bypass act

New Delhi: Amid tight security, farmers on Friday continued with their Kisan Sansad proceedings — a stone's throw away from where the Monsoon Session was underway. They also condemned BJP Minister Meenakshi Lekhi's objectionable description of protesting farmers — also demanding an apology from BJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia for levelling false allegations against the protesting farmers.

On Friday, farmers packed in their buses reached the Jantar Mantar. However, they also claimed that like Thursday, they were once again stopped when they entered Delhi. "Policemen told us that it was for checking. They want us to reach the protest late," one farmer said.

Soon after reaching the protest site, 200 farmers associated with Samyukta Kisan Morcha participated in the Kisan Sansad. Friday's proceedings included a question hour, and the debate was centred around the APMC Bypass Act, in continuation of yesterday's debate.

The second day of the Kisan Sansad also saw the Samyukta Kisan Morcha appoint a speaker (Hardev Arshi), a deputy speaker (Jagtar Singh Bajwa) and an agriculture minister.

The 37-year-old agriculture minister, Ravneet Singh Brar, tendered his resignation before the sansad after he failed to address farmers' issues and could not give any satisfactory response to them.

The Kisan Sansad passed a unanimous resolution at the end of the two-day debate on the APMC Bypass Act. The resolution stated that "farmers need a much higher number of operating mandis and not fewer mandis".

Over two days of proceedings, protesting farmers have refuted many false allegations that have levelled against them for months now.

SKM pointed out that the government desperately continues to malign farmers on every occasion possible.