NEW DELHI: West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday alleged that the three central agri laws would help some businessmen who are close to the ruling BJP government. On the other hand, her Haryana counterpart Manohar Lal Khattar said some leaders were using the farmers to grind their own axe. Meanwhile, the Centre has said the minimum support price (MSP) is completely compliant with the rules of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
Here are the key developments of the day:
1. Mamata Banerjee alleged that the centre’s farm laws are meant to help a few businessmen who are its friends. These businessmen are BJP capitalists and once the three farm laws are introduced, they will try to forcibly purchase crops from the farmers, she said at a programme in Burdwan. The TMC supremo asked farmers not to be scared and assured them that she will not allow anyone to torture them. “BJP has a few friends like the Adanibabus who are crorepatis, zamindars and capitalists. They are big BJP capitalists who will forcibly purchase crops from the farmers and store them in big godowns already built in Delhi. And when people will need the crops they will not give them,” she said inaugurating ‘Mati Utsav’ here. “This is the reason farmers from UP, Haryana, Punjab are protesting against the farm laws, she said.
2. Claiming that farmers in Haryana are happy, chief minister ML Khattar targeted Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leaders Rakesh Tikait and Gurnam Singh Chaduni, alleging that some “frustrated” leaders were using the farmers to grind their own axe. Tikait, the BKU leader from Uttar Pradesh, whose emotional appeal recently had revived the protest that was losing momentum after the January 26 violence in Delhi, has in the past one week addressed a series of ‘Kisan mahapanchayats’ in Haryana. “Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said the three farm laws were framed keeping in view the interests of the farmers. But there are some frustrated leaders whose intent is something else. “Be it Chaduni or Rakesh Tikait, they are not doing anything in the interests of farmers. Instead, they are using the farmers to grind their own axe and serve their own interests,” Khattar told reporters. “In Haryana, farmers are happy. To the few who have been misguided, we appeal to them to sit and hold talks. After the threadbare discussion (on farm laws), if the government feels some things need to be set right, definitely that will be done,” the chief minister said.
3. Commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal said the MSP operations being conducted by the country are completely compliant with the rules of the WTO. “We have a Peace Clause under which for our public procurement purposes, we are permitted to buy from the marketplace and the MSP operations that we are currently doing are completely WTO compliant,” he told reporters. The minister was replying to a question whether MSP is WTO compliant as certain members of the WTO have alleged that the MSP given by India is distorting market conditions and the government has told the protesting farmers that MSP will continue. Under the global trade norms, a WTO member country’s food subsidy bill should not breach the limit of 10 per cent of the value of production based on the reference price of 1986-88.
4. The Supreme Court-appointed committee over the contentious farm laws said it held consultations with agro-processing industries including ITC and Amul on the legislations. This is the sixth meeting the panel has held so far. The three-member committee is holding consultations with stakeholders both through the online mode and in person. In a statement, the committee said it held interactions with various agro-processing industries, associations and procurement agencies on Tuesday. In total, 18 different stakeholder organisations participated through video conference in the detailed deliberation with the committee members, the panel said. These stakeholders included Amul, ITC, Suguna Foods, Venkateshwara Hatcheries, industry bodies CII and FICCI, as well as state-run Food Corporation of India, Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA). Among sector-specific associations, Horticulture Produce Exporters Association, Seafood Exporters Association, All India Rice Miller Association, All India Rice Exporters Association, Tractor Manufacturers’ Association, Cotton Association of India, Fertiliser Association of India, India Pulses and Grain Association and All India Poultry Feed Manufacturer Association participated in the deliberations. Representatives of the Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) participated in the meeting in person. “All the stakeholder participants gave their detailed views and valuable suggestions on the three farm laws,” the committee said in the statement.
5. The Congress will on Wednesday launch its outreach campaign in politically crucial Uttar Pradesh with party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra attending a ‘kisan panchayat’ in Saharanpur. She will be participating in the kisan panchayat at Chilkhana under the party’s ‘Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan’ campaign that will be started in 27 districts of the state, media convenor of UP Congress Lalan Kumar said. He said that several prominent party leaders will be participating in the 10-day programme. The campaign is starting in 27 districts including Saharanpur, Shamli, Muzaffarnagar, Baghpat, Meerut, Bijnor, Hapur, Bulandshahr, Aligarh, Hathras, Mathura, Agra, Firozabad, Budaun, Bareilly, Rampur, Pilibhit, Lakhimpur Kheir, Sitapur and Hardoi, Lalan said. The Congress has been vociferously supporting the farmers’ agitating against the new agri laws and is hoping to make inroads in the state where assembly elections are due next year.
6. A Delhi court sent actor-activist Deep Sidhu to seven-day police custody in connection with the Red Fort violence on the Republic Day during farmers’ tractor parade against the centre’s three new agri laws. Metropolitan magistrate Prigya Gupta sent Sidhu to custody after the police alleged he was one of the main instigators of the violent incidents at the Red Fort. Sidhu’s counsel, however, claimed he had nothing to do with the violence and was at the wrong place at the wrong time. The police had announced a cash reward of Rs 1 lakh for information leading to Sidhu’s arrest. Tens of thousands of farmers broke barriers to storm the national capital on January 26, their tractor parade to highlight their demands dissolving into unprecedented scenes of anarchy as they fought with police, overturned vehicles and delivered a national insult hoisting a religious flag from the ramparts of the Red Fort, a privilege reserved for India’s tricolour.
7. A 28-year-old farmer from Haryana’s Rohtak district, who was providing voluntary services at Tikri border protest site on the Delhi border, died after sustaining serious head injuries when he fell off a tractor-trolley, police said. Deepak was hospitalised at PGIMS, Rohtak where he died during treatment on Monday, Kuldeep Singh, SHO, Aasoda Police Station in Jhajjar district, said. He said the accident took place at Bahadurgarh bypass road on February 5. “Deepak was sitting in the tractor-trolley and distributing ration (to farmers sitting in protest at Tikri). He fell down and sustained head injuries. He died during treatment at PGIMS Rohtak,” the officer added.
8. Activists of the Indian Youth Congress (IYC) took out a protest march to ‘gherao’ Parliament over the farmers’ issues, “rising” unemployment and hike in fuel prices. However, the march which started from Jantar Mantar was stopped by police on Raisina Road. Congress MP Digvijaya Singh along with some leaders of the party and activists also courted arrest, the IYC claimed. A public meeting was also held at Jantar Mantar before the march that was attended by several senior leaders including leader of Congress in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, MPs Deepender Singh Hooda, Mahila Congress president Sushmita Dev and Delhi Congress president Anil Kumar among others. Leading the protest, IYC president Srinivas BV alleged that the Narendra Modi government and the RSS are against the people of the country. “The central government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi is anti-farmer and against the youngsters of the country. I want to tell the prime minister and the BJP government at the centre that democracy does not allow dictatorship,” Srinivas said.
(With agency inputs)