NEW DELHI: The Lok Sabha on Wednesday witnessed noisy scenes due to protests by the opposition demanding a separate discussion over the farmers’ agitation against the three central agri laws. As a result, the lower house witnessed several adjournments during the day.
Here are the key developments of the day:
1. The Lok Sabha proceedings were adjourned repeatedly as the protesting opposition members demanded a separate discussion on the farm laws issue. As the House met at 4pm, Congress leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury tried to raise the issue of farmers' agitation against the agri laws, saying the matter is harming the image of the country. "We are concerned," he said. Several opposition members trooped into the well, protesting against the farm laws. Urging the members to return to their seats, Speaker Om Birla said they should maintain the dignity of the house or else he will have to take disciplinary action. He said the question hour is important and it should go on. But the opposition members refused to relent, forcing him to adjourn the proceedings till 4.30 pm. The house reassembled for the third time, only to again adjourn till 5 pm, then 7 pmand later till 9 pm as the opposition continued its protest despite repeated assurances by the speaker that the members will get adequate opportunity to put forward their views.
2. The ‘mahapanchayat’ of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) stuck to the demand of repeal of the three agri laws and reassurance on minimum support price (MSP) while warning Narendra Modi to be prepared for defeat if their demands were not met. The mahapanchayat, held at Jind in Haryana, ratified five resolutions. They include asking the government to repeal the new laws, giving a legal guarantee on the MSP, implementing the Swaminathan Commission report, waiving farm loans and releasing the farmers arrested during the tractor rally in Delhi on Republic Day. Addressing the mahapanchayat, BKU leader Rakesh Tikait warned the government it could find it difficult to stay in power if the new agri-marketing laws are not repealed. Calling for a “wapsi” (withdrawal) of the new central laws, Tikait indirectly warned the Narendra Modi government that it could lose its “gaddi” (power) if the agitation continues. “We have so far talked about "bill wapsi" (repealing the farm laws). The government should listen carefully. What will you do if the youth call for “gaddi wapsi” (removal from power)?” he said. He asked the Centre to repeal the three laws and frame a new one to assure continuation of the minimum support price (MSP) system.
3. Farmers' agitation sites just outside Delhi resemble "international border" now with authorities building makeshift walls, planting huge metal spikes on roads and deploying concertina wire fences, protesters alleged, even as officials defended the heavy-barricading citing law and order issues. The heightened security measures and various restrictions have been imposed at the three protest sites - Singhu (Delhi-Haryana border), Ghazipur (Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border) and Tikri (Delhi-Haryana border) - since the Republic Day violence that had left over 500 police personnel injured and one protestor dead. On January 26, breaking away from the designated routes for a tractor parade, hundreds of protestors clashed with police in various points to lay siege to the Red Fort and climb the flagpole. While at the Singhu border, the epicenter of the ongoing farmers' agitation, shipping containers, iron rods between barriers and cement slabs have been used to seal the entry points, the tried-and-tested barbed wires, stone boulders and iron nails have been deployed at Tikri and Ghazipur borders to block people's entry into Delhi or to the protest sites. "The protest sites are looking like international borders. It is as if we have come from Pakistan. On one hand, they (the government) want us to talk, and on the other hand they are doing everything to de-link us (from the city)," farmer leader Kulwant Singh Sandhu said. "This shows the restlessness of the government," he said. In addition to heavy-metal barricades and concrete slabs, measures like digging trenches and using DTC buses as roadblocks have been deployed at the said Delhi-Uttar Pradesh and the Delhi-Haryana borders.
4. India hit out at tweets by global celebrities such as singer Rihanna and climate activist Greta Thunberg in support of the farmers' protests, the focus of a sharply polarised international debate that saw many Bollywood stars and top ministers rally around the government in its pushback. The "temptation of sensationalist social media hashtags and comments” is neither accurate nor responsible, the ministry of external affairs said as the international spotlight swivelled to the two-month protest to demand a rollback of three new agri laws and a host of stars, including singer Jay Sean and actor John Cusack, turned their attention to it. Facts must be ascertained before the rush to comment, the ministry added, using the hashtags #IndiaTogether and #IndiaAgainstPropaganda to make its point. Rihanna, among the biggest pop stars of the day with 101 million followers on Twitter, started the global chorus of support for India's farmers.
5. Agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar said the centre is not holding any informal talk with protesting farmers and described putting up more barricades and suspending internet in and around agitation sites as law and order issues related to local administrations. The last and 11th round of meeting between the government and 41 protesting unions, held on January 22, was inconclusive. The centre had asked unions to reconsider the government's proposal to suspend new farm laws for 18 months. Asked if the government was engaging with the unions informally, Tomar told PTI, "No. We will inform you when formal talks will be held." He was also asked when the government will hold the next round of talks. When told that protesting unions demand that no formal talks with the government can be held until the police and the administration stop "harassing" them and release the detained farmers, the minister said, "They should talk to the police commissioner. I don't want to comment on the law and order issue. That's not my job."
6. The BJP passed a resolution commending the Union budget and said that it has taken further measures to strengthen agriculture infrastructure, while underlining the Modi government's commitment to double the farmers' income. At a virtual meeting of its national office-bearers which was chaired by party president JP Nadda and also attended by its state chiefs, the BJP said the budget will have far-reaching results with its emphasis on everyone's welfare and boosting people's ease-of-living, its general secretary Bhupender Yadav said in a statement. Health and welfare, inclusive development, innovation and research, minimum government maximum governance, wealth and infrastructure creation, and people's ease of living are the six pillars of the 2021-22 budget, he said, describing it as a foundational document for the new decade. Asserting that the government has been taking several reformist steps do double farmers' income, get them the right price for their produce and to rule out any difficulty for them to sell their produce, the party said it has also undertaken measures to ensure that the money due to tillers is not appropriated by middlemen. The government's historic decision to give Rs 6,000 to crores of farmers annually is a testimony of its pro-farmers policies, the party said.
7. No foreign government has given support to the farmers' agitation against the three farm laws, but protests related to these laws by a "few motivated" persons of Indian origins (PIOs) were reported in Canada, the UK, the US and in some European countries, Lok Sabha was informed on Wednesday. Minister of state for external affairs V Muraleedharan said Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had made a comment on issues related to the farmers, and it was conveyed to Canada that such remarks pertaining to the internal affairs of India are "unwarranted" and "unacceptable". The minister was replying to questions on the farmers' protests. "No foreign government has given support to agitation of Indian farmers against three bills passed by Indian Parliament. In Canada, UK, USA, and in few European countries, protests by a few motivated PIOs on issues related to the Indian farm bill have been reported," he said. The matter was taken up with the Canadian authorities both in Ottawa and New Delhi and conveyed that such comments pertaining to the "internal affairs of India are unwarranted, unacceptable and would damage India-Canada bilateral relations," the minister said on Trudeau's remarks. In early December, Trudeau, backing the agitating farmers in India, had said that Canada will always be there to defend the rights of peaceful protests, and expressed concern over the situation. "Government of Canada has welcomed the Government of India's commitment to ongoing dialogue with the farmers to discuss issues of concern," Muraleedharan added.
8. Former Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Manjit Singh GK has sent a legal notice to social media giant Twitter asking it to immediately delete the account of Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut for tweeting alleged defamatory statements against farmers. The legal notice, which was sent to the managing director of Twitter in Maharashtra on Tuesday through e-mail, said the posts by the actress are factually incorrect and are maligning or tarnishing the image, reputation and goodwill of farmers and the entire Sikh community associated with them. The notice, sent through advocate Naginder Benipal, said it was given for attacking the farmers and the Sikh community who are protesting against the three farm laws passed by the Central Government with the assent of the President. Referring to Ranaut's tweet, it said that on February 2, she had replied to a tweet of international pop star Ms. Rihanna who had tweeted "why aren't we talking about this?! #FarmersProtest". In her reply, Ranaut tweeted "No one is talking about it because they are not farmers, they are terrorists who are trying to divide India, so that China can take over our vulnerable broken nation and make it a Chinese colony much like the US."
9. After being marshalled out of Rajya Sabha, AAP MP Sanjay Singh alleged that the Congress has made a backdoor deal with the BJP to not raise the issue of farmers' protests separately and aggressively inside the Parliament. Addressing a press conference, Singh asked the Congress to clarify its stand on the contentious farm laws enacted by the centre recently. "Congress has made a backdoor deal with the BJP to not raise the farmers agitation separately and aggressively inside the Parliament. "Today, when AAP MPs were marshalled out from Rajya Sabha, the Congress party remained silent," he said. Three Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MPs, including Sanjay Singh, were on Wednesday marshalled out of Rajya Sabha after they disrupted proceedings over the three contentious farm reform laws and refused to heed to Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu's plea for order.
10. The CPM lashed out at the Delhi Police and the Union government over the "inhuman" treatment being meted out to protesting farmers, and said that preventing the Delhi government from discharging its duties was "illegal". "The politburo of the CPI(M) strongly condemns the measures taken by the Delhi police to prevent the supply of water, food and other essential commodities sent by people of nearby states to reach the farmers who are in the midst of a heroic unprecedented protest demanding the repeal of the agri laws. "What is worse is that the Delhi government, which is supplying water to the kisans, has been stopped from delivering the water tankers of the Delhi Jal Board. This is a corporation directly under the Delhi government," the party said in a statement.
(With agency inputs)