In a move to make the recently enacted farm sector legislation ineffective, Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Monday directed Chief Ministers of four Congress-ruled States to look into the possibility of passing laws to override these measures.
A statement issued by party general secretary KC Venugopal said CMs of Punjab, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Pudducherry have been told to pass laws under Article 254 (2) of the Constitution that allows State legislatures to pass laws that could negate the “anti-agriculture” Central laws encroaching upon the States’ jurisdiction under the Constitution.
“This would enable the States to bypass the unacceptable anti-farmers provisions.”
“This would also alleviate the farmers from the grave injustice done by the Modi Government and BJP,” the statement said.
Former party chief Rahul Gandhi alleged that the agriculture-related laws are a “death sentence” for farmers whose voice has been crushed both inside and outside Parliament. “The agriculture laws are a death sentence to our farmers. Their voice is crushed in Parliament and outside. Here is proof that democracy in India is dead,” he said on Twitter.
