BSP chief Mayawati; SP president Akhilesh YadavBahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Friday slammed the BJP government at the Centre for the farm Bills, calling them “anti-farmer” and “pro-rich”.
The Lok Sabha on Thursday passed The Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020 and The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020.
Questioning the manner in which the Bills were passed in the Lok Sabha, Mayawati said, “Sansad mein kisanon se jure do Bill, unki sabhi shankaon ko door kiye bina hi, kal paas kar diye gaye hain. Ush se BSP katai sehmat nahi hai. (Two Bills related to farmers were passed in Parliament yesterday without clearing doubts related to them. The BSP does not approve of it at all.” She further said, “What does farmer of the entire country want? It would be better if the Central government pays attention in this direction.”
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav termed the two farm Bills “pro-rich and anti-farming”, and said that once they come into effect, they would reduce the farmers as mere labourers on their own fields and would take away their right of getting appropriate price for their crop.
“BJP sarkar kheti ko ameeron ke hathon girwi rakhne ke liye shoshankari vidheyak layi hai.” (The BJP government has brought these Bills, which would mortgage the farms in the hands of rich and will exploit them).”
Akhilesh further said that these Bills were being passed “to end the protection given to the farmers and slowly finish the mandis where farmers sell their crop at minimum support price (MSP). He said that in the future, the minimum support price to farmers would be done away with and farmers will just work as labourers in their own fields (“Woh apni hi jameen par majdoor ban jayenge”).
In Parliament too, members of the Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party have joined the Opposition ranks to oppose the Bills.
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