Ranchi: The ruling Jharkhand Mukti Morcha on Monday issued an appeal to people of the state to make Tuesday’s Bharat bandh called by farmers’ unions a success. The central general secretary of the party, Supriyo Bhattacharya, also said that JMM workers would hit the streets in support of the strike to send out a strong message to the Centre.
Addressing the media at the party office here on Monday, he said: “The farm laws passed by the Centre are unconstitutional and must be withdrawn. Just amending the laws will not be enough.” Bhattacharya added that agriculture and farm work were listed as state subjects in the Constitution and the Union government had no right to frame laws in those matters. “We have all witnessed how the bills were approved in Parliament, setting aside all procedures and code of conduct. Now when the farmers are agitating, efforts are being made to silence them as well,” he said.
“My appeal goes out to everyone who eat rice and wheat produced by these farmers. We should support their demand and make the Bharat bandh successful, so that the idea of selling out agriculture to corporate houses is thwarted,” Bhattacharya said.
BJP, on the other hand, lashed out at chief minister Hemant Soren for his tweet expressing support to the bandh. Party spokesperson Saroj Singh said that if the CM was supporting the bandh, would the state government declare an official holiday or ask its officials to not report to work on Tuesday. “We are wondering if the administration will take any action against elements that resort to vandalism to enforce bandhs,” he said.
Replying to the charges of BJP, Bhattacharya said that Soren was also the working president of JMM. “Hemant Soren has one Twitter handle, so his appeal was as a party worker and not as the chief minister of the state. He has not used the Twitter handle of Jharkhand CM,” he said.
BJP state president Deepak Prakash addressed the media in Jamshedpur and criticised Congress for opposing the farm laws. “Anyone can check the Congress website and their stand on farm laws as was mentioned in point number 11 of page number 17 of their manifesto for 2019 Lok Sabha polls,” he said, adding that not just Congress but other UPA partners have also changed their position on farm laws.
Prakash said that none other than Rahul Gandhi in 2013 had announced to de-list fruits and vegetables from the APMC Act to bring down the prices. “People should understand the dual policies of these political parties and decide what is good for the farmers,” he said.