‘Farm reforms need to be discussed afresh in Parl and new laws enacted after consulting all stakeholders’

Senior Congress leader and former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has said that the party was not against ‘reforms’ in the farm sector, but the ones brought in through the three recent laws did not reflect those changes, and demanded that these legislations be scrapped by convening a special session of Parliament.

He said that agricultural reforms should be discussed afresh in Parliament and new laws enacted after consulting all stakeholders. Hooda said that the Minimum Support Price (MSP) mechanism needs to be incorporated in the laws because it is a must to protect the interest of farmers. He added that the farm laws brought in by the Union government were passed without any consultation with farmers and subsequently pushed through even as the Coronavirus pandemic raged across the country.

"The government must immediately scrap the three farm laws and convene a Parliament session to discuss reforms in the agriculture sector," he said.

Hooda also asked as to why the government did not agree to the Opposition’s demand of bringing another law to punish those buying farm produce below the Minimum Support Price (MSP).

He said the BJP-led Haryana government has lost the trust of the people and of the Assembly as it "mishandled" the farmers' agitation and, therefore, it should face a vote of no confidence.

"I have written to the Governor demanding the immediate convening of the Haryana Assembly as the present BJP government in the state has insulted farmers," said Hooda.

The Congress would move a no-confidence motion against the Manohar Lal Khattar government which has "lost the confidence of people as also the MLAs" as a large number of them were supporting the farmers' protest, he said.

The former chief minister also stressed that the Congress manifesto in 2019 promising abolition of the APMC Act was being "misrepresented" by the BJP.

"We had promised to create procurement centres and mandis nearby farmers' areas. We created such mandis and centres, some even in my own village in Haryana which has a small population of 10,000," he said.