RSS-affiliated Kisan Sangh wants Bills to be cleared by House panel
The RSS affiliated Bharatiya Kisan Sangh (BKS) has joined hands with critics of the three farm sector-related Bills that will come up for passage in the Rajya Sabha on Sunday. This could put up added pressure on the Government to bring in some changes in the Bills to allay the fear of the farmers about continuation of the minimum support price (MSP) regime in future. The Lok Sabha passed the Bill on Friday.
After Akali Deal leader Harsimrat Kaur walked out of the Modi Government to protest against the Bills, the BKS stand shows that the BJP stands completely isolated on introducing these radical measures. Amid rising apprehensions that farm sector Bills passed in the Lok Sabha may not protect the interest of the agriculturists, the BKS has demanded that the Bills must be sent to the Standing Committee for wider consultations and changes.
A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi blamed the Opposition for misleading the farmers, the BKS said the Bill is “tilted heavily towards the corporate” and would not improve the lives of farmers and should be whetted by the Standing Committee on Agriculture headed by BJP’s PC Gaddigoudar for the benefit of small farmers before turning into a law.
Opposing the Bills in their current form, the organisation has also written to Prime Minister and Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, demanding pro-farmer provisions that do not benefit the big firms and corporates.
On Thursday, the Lok Sabha passed two agriculture-related Bills — Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020, and Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020 — by voice vote. On Tuesday, the House passed the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill, 2020, which seeks to deregulate food items, including cereals, pulses and onions.
As famers in Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh hit the streets against three farm Bills and Harsimrat quit the Modi Government in protest, the Opposition described the move as “corporatisation” of the agriculture and in favour of big farmers. The Opposition unity will be tested in the Rajya Sabha on Sunday when the Bills come up for passage. As many as 10 MPs have tested positive for Covid-19 and have been isolated at home.
A further 15 MPs, including the Congress’s P Chidambaram -- who this morning hit out at the BJP and Prime Minister Modi over the farm Bills -- have expressed their inability to attend. Both these developments should help the BJP since it brings down the majority mark.
The BJP, on its own, has 86 members, and, with its NDA allies, it can go up to 105 votes. It cannot, however, count on the three Akali Dal MPs, who have been given a three-line whip to vote against the Bills.
The BJP, which has issued a three-line whip of its own, will also count on “friendly” regional parties like Odisha’s BJD and Andhra Pradesh’s YSR Congress - to vote in its favour. Jagan Mohan Reddy’s YSR Congress has six MPs and Naveen Patnaik’s BJD has nine MPs in the RS.
Sources say the Government is confident that around 135 MPs will vote in support of the farm Bills.
The Congress-led Opposition, on the other hand, which includes the Trinamool Congress and its 13 MPs, will be on the back foot on Sunday.
The Congress itself has 40 seats and can count on several regional and smaller parties -- such as the BSP (four seats), the Samajwadi Party (eight seats) and Delhi’s AAP (three seats).
Shiv Sena that has three members in the Rajya Sabha with whom the Congress has formed a tripartite Government in Maharashtra will decide after a late night meet on Saturday.
The Government has said the Bills will help small and marginal farmers by empowering them through written agreements and farmers can sell their produce at competitive prices anywhere in India.
However, farmers fear this means they will no longer be able to sell at an MSP.
