The defence of the three Farm Bills by Prime Minister Narendra Modi shows that the government is completely opposed to resolving the demands of the farmers, says AIKSCC

NEW DELHI — The All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee (AIKSCC) on Monday hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his defence of the three Farm Bills passed in Parliament in September this year, saying it shows that the government is completely opposed to resolving the demands of the farmers.

In a statement the AIKSSC said, “The Prime Minister’s defence of the three farm Bills in his ‘Man ki Baat’ episode shows government is completely opposed to solving demands of farmers.”

It said that the Prime Minister has called the new farm laws a fulfilment of the farmers’ demand itself, “for higher income”, “giving them new rights and new opportunities” and his utterances is a further insult to the farmers’ hopes that the government will make sincere effort to address their issues and concerns.

“The government is still claiming it has to create awareness about the benefits of the Farm Acts, while farmers are clear that these Acts are only about freedom to the corporate, opportunities for the corporate, income for the corporate, at the cost of farmers,” the AIKSCC said.

It said that all 30 Punjab farmer organisations, the AIKSCC and other farmer groups have correctly decided to unambiguously reject the appeal by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, asking farmers to move to Burari, which they all see as an attempt to restrain them and create an illusion of talks and settlement.

“They have correctly rejected conditional talks, while keeping the doors open for any sincere effort by the government,” it said.

It said that the working group of AIKSCC has hailed the clarity of thought being articulated by the farmers organisations and has once again appealed to the Centre not to treat this issue as a law and order problem by involving the Intelligence agencies and Home Ministry.

“Farmers of India are here in Delhi and are continuing to flow in from all directions with only one objective in mind – to get the three Farm Acts and the EB 2020 revoked,” it said, adding that they have no other demand.

“Farmers are at pains to explain to the government that they fully understand the impact of these laws; each and every protestor is articulate and clear about this. It is only the Prime Minister, his Cabinet Ministers, his officials and his set of experts and advisors who do not understand that farmers see these Acts as an attack on their ownership of land through contract farming, as an attack on their income and increase in their debts, as winding up government controls and freedom to Big Corporations, MNCs in agriculture production, processing and marketing of foods, as winding up of assured pricing, procurement, government storage and food supplies, as increasing farmer suicides, as increasing food prices and black marketing and end PDS, etc,” it added.

Earlier in the day, breaking his silence over farmers’ protests the prime minister said these legislations have opened new doors of opportunities for growers and given them more rights.

“The recently passed farm laws have created new possibilities for farmers and have opened new doors for farmers. The demands of the farmers that had continued for several decades have now been fulfilled. Most of the political parties have agreed to the demands of farmers at some point. The laws have been passed after detailed discussion in Parliament,” the prime minister said while addressing the nation in his monthly radio programme Mann Ki Baat.

He said farmers should not pay heed to rumours or those spreading misconceptions, adding that the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government at the Centre was committed to the welfare of the farmers of the country.

Speaking at function in Varanasi, he began his speech with ‘Har Har Mahadev’ and said that while everyone can raise questions in a democracy but there is a new trend in which some people are spreading misinformation and canards against the decisions taken by the government.

“These forces have spread misinformation to such an extent that it is unbelievable. They did not even allow welfare schemes to be implemented in states where they are in power,” he said

He said that the old system option was still open for farmers.

“These are the same people who have been duping farmers for decades. The MSP was always announced but never implemented. Their mega schemes never reached the beneficiaries,” he said. – IANS