Swaraj India national president Yogendra Yadav, also national working group member of All-India Kisan Sangarsh Coordination Committee (AIKSCC), on Sunday posed 10 questions to Haryana Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala on the three farm laws and asked him to either reply or step down.
Flanked by farmer leaders at a press conference in Chandigarh, Mr. Yadav also extended support to a call by 17 farmers’ groups in Haryana on behalf of AIKSCC to lay siege to Mr. Chautala’s residence in Sirsa on October 6 on the issue of farm laws.
In an obvious reference to the resignation of Shiromani Akali Dal leader Harsimrat Kaur from the National Democratic Alliance government at the Centre over the controversial laws, Mr. Yadav said the farmers of Punjab had claimed a “wicket” in the very first over and now it was the turn of the Haryana farmers to take the second wicket.
Posing the questions, Mr. Yadav demanded to know whether Mr. Chautala or his party had ever demanded any law or a change similar to the three farm laws and were they ever consulted by the Bharatiya Janata Party before or after the ordinances were brought in. He further asked whether the three laws were in any way connected to the lockdown and coronavirus, and if not, then why they were brought amid the pandemic through ordinances.
Referring to the demand of the farmers to guarantee Minimum Support Price, Mr. Yadav sought to know as to why the demand for MSP was not guaranteed through law if these laws posed no danger to it. “Does Mr. Chautala support the manner in which the laws were passed in the Rajya Sabha? How the farmers would be benefited by the amendment in the Essential Commodities Act allowing hoarding? Have the companies been allowed to loot both — the farmers and the consumers?” asked Mr. Yadav.
Stance questioned
Questioning the stance taken by the JJP over the three farm laws, Mr. Yadav demanded to know as to why the descendant of Chaudhary Devi Lal alone was defending the laws when none of the farmer leaders and organisations were ready to speak in their support.
Asking Mr. Chautala to reply to the questions on October 6 to the farmers, he demanded to know as to why the Deputy Chief Minister was clinging to the chair when crop was being sold at a price lower than the MSP right under his nose.