News Analysis India

Tag: Farmers Protest

  • AAP to boycott President’s address to joint sitting of parliament over farmers’ protest

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: A day before the start of the Budget Session of Parliament, the AAP’s Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh on Thursday said his party will boycott the president’s address to the joint sitting of both houses over the ongoing farmers’ protest.

    Singh said the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) demands complete roll back of three agri laws.

    He alleged the “anti-farmer” legislations were aimed at benefiting a few industrialists.

    “The Aam Aadmi Party is opposing these anti-farmer laws from the very first day and our protest will continue.

    This is why it has decided to boycott the President’s address tomorrow at Parliament.

    “AAP Lok Sabha MP Bhagwant Mann and all the three Rajya Sabha MPs will not attend the President’s address tomorrow,” he said.

    ALSO READ: West Bengal assembly passes resolution demanding withdrawal of new farm laws

    While Bhagwant Mann is a member of the Lok Sabha, Sanjay Singh, N D Gupta and Sushil Gupta are the AAP’s Rajya Sabha MPs.

    Apart from the AAP, 16 opposition parties have also decided to boycott President Ram Nath Kovind’s address on Friday in solidarity with the farmers protesting the new farm laws.

    The 16 parties are the Congress, Nationalist Congress Party, National Conference, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Trinamool Congress, Shiv Sena, Samajwadi Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal, Communist Party of India (Marxist), CPI, Indian Union Muslim League, RSP, Peoples Democratic Party, MDMK, Kerala Congress (M) and the All India United Democratic Front.

    These opposition parties have demanded an independent probe into the Centre’s role in the violence that shook the national capital during the farmers” tractor parade on Republic Day.

    They also demanded the repeal of the three farm laws and criticised the central government for remaining unresponsive to the demands of lakhs of farmers protesting against the agri laws.

  • Samajwadi Party demands FIR against Delhi Police, top BJP leaders for R-Day violence

    By PTI
    LUCKNOW: Leader of Opposition in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly Ram Govind Chaudhary on Thursday said instead of farmers, an FIR should be registered against the Delhi police commissioner and top BJP leaders for the violence in New Delhi on Republic Day.

    “The chaos and the unfurling of a religious flag at the Red Fort on January 26 is a conspiracy of the Delhi police, which is under the home ministry and the top leadership of the BJP, to weaken the farmers’ agitation.

    For this, the Delhi Police and the leadership of the Bharatiya Janata Party should be condemned.

    Instead of farmers, an FIR should be registered against the Delhi police commissioner and the BJP leaders, whose names have surfaced in connection with Deep Sidhu…,” the Samajwadi Party (SP) leader said in a statement here.

    “Even after this big conspiracy, farmers did not lose patience. It is not a minor thing. I salute the patience of the farmers and once again demand from the Centre that instead of weakening the farmers’ agitation, it should withdraw the farm laws.

    The farmers of the entire country are shocked by the conspiracy and attitude of people occupying top positions,” he added.

    The SP, under the leadership of its president Akhilesh Yadav, is and will remain in support of the ongoing farmers’ movement, Chaudhary said.

  • Farmers’ protest comes to an end in UP’s Baghpat; protesters allege use of force by police

    By PTI
    BAGHPAT: A farmers’ protest against three farm laws of the Centre, which was continuing on a national highway in this Uttar Pradesh district since December 19 last year, has come to an end with the protesters alleging use of force by police.

    The police, however, claimed that the matter was resolved through deliberations and the protesting farmers were sent home on Wednesday night.

      The protesters have alleged that police personnel entered their tents late on Wednesday night, used force on the sleeping farmers and chased them away.

    Thamba Chaudhary, Brijpal Singh, Baljaur Singh Arya, Vikram Singh and other farmers who took part in the protest on Thursday said their agitation against the farm laws was going on on one side of the national highway.

    ALSO READ: West Bengal assembly passes resolution demanding withdrawal of new farm laws

    Late on Wednesday night, a large number of police personnel entered their tents, resorted to lathicharge on the sleeping farmers and chased them away, they told reporters.

    Charging the police with adopting repressive measures, they claimed that their tents were uprooted.

    About 40 farmers were present at the spot at that time, they said.

    WATCH

    Refuting the charges, Circle Officer Alok Singh said the protest ended after deliberations with the farmers and the police did not resort to lathicharge on the protesters.

    Whatever happened was in agreement with those present there, he said, adding that the protesting farmers returned home peacefully.

    Meanwhile, ADM Amit Kumar Singh said the Project Director of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), Sanjay Misra, had written a letter complaining that work on the Delhi-Saharanpur highway was being hampered because of some anarchic elements.

    Acting on the letter, the protesters were removed from the national highway and sent home, the ADM said.

    The protest was launched on the national highway at Badaut on December 19 last year.

  • West Bengal assembly passes resolution demanding withdrawal of new farm laws

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: The West Bengal assembly on Thursday passed a resolution against the three contentious farm laws enacted by the Centre and demanded that they be withdrawn immediately.

    The resolution was moved by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Partha Chatterjee.

    While speaking on the resolution, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said that the Centre should either withdraw the new laws or step down.

    ALSO READ: Ahead of Budget session, 16 Opposition parties decide to boycott President’s address to Parliament

    The CPI(M) and the Congress supported the resolution but demanded that the state government withdraw similar laws it had passed a few years back.

    BJP MLAs opposed the resolution and staged a walkout shouting “Jai Shri Ram” slogans.

  • Ahead of Budget session, 16 Opposition parties decide to boycott President’s address to Parliament

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: A day before the start of the Budget Session of Parliament, 16 Opposition parties led by the Congress, NCP, Shiv Sena and the TMC on Thursday decided to boycott the President’s address to the joint sitting of both the Houses in solidarity with the farmers protesting the new farm laws.

    Announcing the decision, Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad said the 16 Opposition parties also demanded an independent probe into the Centre’s role in the violence that shook the national capital during the farmers’ tractor parade on Republic Day.

    The Opposition parties also demanded the repeal of the three farm laws and criticised the central government for remaining unresponsive to the demands of lakhs of farmers protesting against the agri laws.

    The parties that will boycott the president’s address on Friday are the Congress, Nationalist Congress Party, National Conference, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Trinamool Congress, Shiv Sena, Samajwadi Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal, Communist Party of India (Marxist), CPI, Indian Union Muslim League, RSP, Peoples Democratic Party, MDMK, Kerala Congress (M) and the All India United Democratic Front.

    “The prime minister and the BJP government remain arrogant, adamant and undemocratic in their response.

    Shocked by this insensitivity of the government, the Opposition political parties, reaffirming the collective demand for the repeal of the anti-farmer laws and in solidarity with the Indian farmers, have decided to boycott the president’s address to both the houses of Parliament on Friday, January 29, 2021,” said a joint statement issued by various parties.

    Releasing the joint statement, senior Congress leader Azad, along, with deputy leader Anand Sharma and Congress’ chief whip in Lok Sabha K Suresh, said farmers have been collectively fighting against the three farm laws “arbitrarily imposed by the BJP government.

    The parties also said the government remains unmoved and has responded with water canons, tear gas and lathi charges on the lakhs of farmers agitating against the laws.

    Every effort has been made to discredit a legitimate mass movement through the government-sponsored disinformation campaign, they said.

    ALSO READ: Farmers’ agitation among core issues in Congress agenda in Parliament, likely to boycott President’s address

    The parties also said that though the protests and the agitation have remained peaceful, but there were some acts of violence on January 26 in the national capital, which was condemned universally and unequivocally.

    “We also express our sadness over the injuries sustained by Delhi Police personnel while handling the difficult situation.

    But, we believe that an impartial investigation will reveal the central government’s nefarious role in orchestrating those events,” the parties said in the joint statement.

    They said the new farm laws threaten the future of Indian agriculture, which sustains over 60 per cent of the country’s population, and the livelihood of crores of farmers, sharecroppers and farm labour.

    “The three farm laws are an assault on the rights of the states and violate the federal spirit of the Constitution.

    If not repealed, these Laws will effectively dismantle the edifice of national food security that rests upon – minimum support price (MSP), government procurement and public distribution system (PDS),” the statement said.

    It also alleged that the farm bills were brought without any consultations with states and farmer unions, and lacked national consensus.

    “Parliamentary scrutiny was bypassed and the laws were pushed through muzzling the Opposition, in brazen violation of Parliamentary rules, practices and conventions.

    The very constitutional validity of these laws remains in question.” Azad alleged that the Opposition has been against the manner in which the three bills were passed in Parliament and the demands of farmers not met.

    “Those responsible for the violence should be punished and taken to task.

    The government would have to take responsibility that had it not shown arrogance and taken the laws back, these incidents would not have taken place,” he said.

    “We strongly believe that the government has miserably failed in handling the farmers agitation,” the senior Congress leader said.

    He alleged that the entire rules and regulations were “thrown in the dustbin” when the farm bills were passed in the last session, as a result of which the farmers took to the streets.

    The Congress on Wednesday had held Union Home Minister Amit Shah responsible for the violence that shook the national capital on Republic Day and said he should be sacked immediately.

    The Congress had also accused the Modi government of being a part of a concerted conspiracy to malign the farmers’ agitation by allowing some miscreants to enter the Red Fort complex and hoist a religious flag, in their bid to ensure that the farmers bury their demand for the repeal of the three new agri laws.

    President Ram Nath Kovind would address the joint sitting of the two Houses of Parliament on January 29 heralding the start of the Budget Session of Parliament.

  • Rahul Gandhi continues to attack Centre on agri legislations, claims ryots not aware of details

    By PTI
    KALPETTA: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday continued to attack the Centre over the three farm laws and claimed most farmers were not aware of details of the bills and if they did, there would have been an agitation throughout the country.

    Referring to the contentious central farm laws, he said it was the “latest deadly assault” on the farmers.

    A day after violence during the farmers’ tractor rally in Delhi, Gandhi had appealed to the Narendra Modi government on Wednesday to repeal, what he claimed were, “anti-agriculture” laws.

    “Most of the farmers are not aware of the details of the farm bills. Because if they did, there would have been an agitation throughout the country,” he said, addressing a UDF convention on Thursday at Kalpetta in Wayanad, his Lok Sabha constituency, on the second day of his two-day visit to poll- bound Kerala.

    ALSO READ | Tractor parade violence: Delhi Police issues notices to 20 farmer leaders

    He also alleged that while the BJP government at the Centre was “aggressively” using its central agencies-CBI and the Enforcement Directorate (ED)-against opposition party ruled governments, there was no such pressure on left ruled Kerala where the assembly polls are only months away.

    “In every opposition party ruled states, CBI and ED are used aggressively by the BJP. There is no such thing in Kerala.

    There is no such pressure on the Kerala government. CBI and ED are very relaxed on the cases here,” Gandhi said.

    “You go through newspaper reports. Does the BJP attack the Congress more or the CPI(M)? Does the Prime Minister attack the Chief Minister of Kerala or does he attack the leadershipof the Congress party?” he asked, apparently suggesting that the saffron party was going soft on the left front in the southern state.

    Continuing to target the Centre over the farm laws,Gandhi alleged the basic idea was to hand over the agricultural system of the country to three or four businessmen.

    “Five to 10 people are “stealing” every single farmer’s produce.

    They are stealing from every single worker, they are stealing from every single worker in the mandis and stealing from every truck driver who takes wheat from the mandis and the Prime Minister of India is organising the robbery,” he alleged.

    “This is not just a crime against farmers, but crime against India,” Gandhi said.

    Gandhi also said if the Congress-led UDF comes to power in Kerala, a medical college, along pending demand of his Wayanad constituency, would become a reality.

    “The state government is going slow on this demand,” he claimed.

    Later after inaugurating a spice kit distribution to SC farmers at Ambalavayal, organised by RARS, Kerala agriculture university, Gandhi said his endeavour was to make Wayanad synonymouswith spices and he had written to the Centre to set up a spice park in the district.

  • Farmers’ agitation among core issues in Congress agenda in Parliament, likely to boycott President’s address

    By ANI
    NEW DELHI: The Congress party has decided to go strong against the central government in the Budget Session commencing from Friday. Farmers’ agitation against the farm laws, hike in fuel prices and Chinese incursion will be on the agenda of the party this time.

    At the same time, the party is likely to boycott the President’s address to the house as well.

    The strategy has been finalised in the meeting of the ‘Parliament Strategy Group’ held on Wednesday. It was chaired by Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi via video conferencing and attended by senior party leaders.

    According to the sources, the party will go strong on the floor against the government on farmers agitation against the farm laws and will try to compel the government to repeal the laws as it is going to affect the agriculture sector badly and farmers are agitating for more than two months.

    Party has also decided to reach out to the like-minded Opposition parties to Chalk out a joint strategy on the issues, UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi is in touch with the Opposition Leaders for this and will be doing a Virtual Meeting for this, sources said.

    The virtual meeting of ‘Parliament Strategy Group’, which was attended by Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad, Deputy LoP Anand Sharma and other party leaders like P Chidambaram, Manish Tiwari, Gaurav Gogoi, Manickam Tagore and K Suresh, has also decided to reach out to opposition parties for the boycott of President’s address.

    “Ghulam Nabi Azad has been tasked to initiate talks with the party’s stakeholders. Party’s strategy is clear that government must repeal the farm laws and should put up the stand on the current economic condition in the country including Chinese incursion at the northern borders and compromise with the national security in the WhatsApp chat leak case,” a leader present in the meeting told ANI.

    The Congress party has called for a convention on the farm laws from Block to State level across the country. In the recent Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting, three resolutions were passed including demand for Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) into “shocking revelation endangering national security on WhatsApp chat leak” and demand to Central government for repealing of farm laws.

    The Budget session of Parliament will begin on January 29 with an address by President Ram Nath Kovind. The Union Budget will be presented on February 1.

    The first part of the session will continue till February 15. The second part of the session will be held from March 8 to April 8.

    Rajya Sabha will function from 9 am to 2 pm and Lok Sabha from 4 pm to 9 pm with Zero Hour and Question Hour.

    Members of Parliament have been requested to undergo an RT-PCR test against COVID-19 before the start of the Budget session. 

  • Home Minister Amit Shah visits hospital to enquire about health of cops injured in Republic Day violence

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday visited a hospital here to enquire about the health of policemen injured in the violence that broke out during the farmers’ tractor parade in the national capital on Republic Day, officials said.

    Nearly 400 policemen were injured during the tractor parade of the farmers who have been protesting against three central farm laws at Delhi’s borders since November.

    “Meeting the injured Delhi Police personnel. We are proud of their courage and bravery,” Shah tweeted.

    Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla and Delhi Police Commissioner S N Shrivastava accompanied the home minister.

    Union Home Minister Amit Shah coming out after meeting injured Police personnel at Sushruta Trauma Centre. (Photo | Parveen Negi, EPS)

    During the visit, Shah interacted with policemen and also took stock of their health progress from doctors.

    As per the plans, the home minister is visiting two hospitals — Shushrut Trauma Centre and Teerath Ram Hospital — where some of the policemen were admitted for treatment.

    Both the hospitals are located in Civil Lines area in the city.

    The Delhi Police on Wednesday had alleged that farmer leaders made inflammatory speeches and were involved in the violence during the tractor parade by agitating farmers that left 394 of its personnel injured, as it warned that no culprit will be spared.

  • Congress seeks Amit Shah’s sacking, dubs him ‘weakest’ Home Minister 

    By Express News Service
    NEW DELHI:  The Congress sought the immediate removal of Amit Shah for Tuesday’s violence, saying that it was a “colossal” intelligence failure for which the Union home minister is directly responsible. Alleging that the violence during tractor parade was a conspiracy to malign farmers agitation, the party claimed Shah is the weakest home minister seen in the history of India in last 73 years. 

    For the second time in less than a year under Shah’s leadership, the Congress said, the national capital was pushed to the brink of unabated, unchecked and uncontrolled violence. On allegations by farmer unions that Punjabi actor Deep Sidhu incited the crowd to hoist Khalsa flag at Red Fort, the party said: “A BJP insider who was acting at the behest of Amit Shah as part of a pre-planned conspiracy to discredit the peaceful farmers’ agitation.”

    ​ALSO READ | Tractor parade violence: Amit Shah orders police to go hard on violators

    “If the over 60 day-long peaceful agitation by farmers was infiltrated by violent, anti-social elements as part of a conspiracy, why did the intelligence agencies and the Union home ministry not know about this. And if they did, then why didn’t they do anything to prevent the anarchy we all witnessed,” said Congress media in charge Randeep Surjewala.

    ALSO WATCH:

    Similarly, the CPI (M)  claimed that Tuesday’s violence was the handiwork of agent provocateurs with links to the BJP. “The Politburo of the CPI(M) calls upon the Central government to immediately announce the repeal of these laws and move towards this end in the forthcoming budget session of the Parliament,” it said.

  • Track violators at the earliest, Amit Shah to cops

    By Express News Service
    NEW DELHI:  Union Home Minister Amit Shah ordered Delhi Police for the second time to track those involved in Tuesday’s violence at the earliest. In a meeting with officials that lasted over an hour, Shah took stock of the situation and discussed measures to be taken.

    Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla, Delhi Police Commissioner SN Srivastava, Director of the Intelligence Bureau and senior security officials briefed Shah about the steps taken. “Police has been told to take action against everybody, including farmer leaders, who had a role in the violence,” a senior official said.

    Officials added that action is being planned against farmer leaders, who had promised a peaceful rally. On Tuesday too, Shah had reviewed the law and order situation following the violence that rocked Delhi.The Centre has deployed around 4,500 paramilitary troops to assist Delhi Police in maintaining law and order. RAF personnel have also been called into action and vigil has been intensified.