NEW DELHI: Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Wednesday attacked the BJP-led government at the Centre over the new farm laws and alleged that farmers in Uttar Pradesh were forced to sell paddy at a rate lower than the minimum support price.
Taking to Twitter, she also posted a video of a farmer alleging corruption in crop procurement at the Mohammadi Khiri mandi.
“The BJP government is holding a government Khat Sammelan over the bills which are against the interest of the farmers, but is not listening to the pain of the farmers,” Priyanka Gandhi said in a tweet in Hindi.
“In almost all the places in UP, farmers are forced to sell their paddy crops at Rs 1,000 to 1,100 per quintal, about Rs 800 less than the Rs 1,868 per quintal MSP,” she said.
This is when there is a guarantee for MSP, think what will happen when this guarantee is not there, she added.
Her attack on the government comes a day after the Punjab Assembly adopted a resolution rejecting the Centre’s new farm laws and passed four bills that it said will counter the contentious legislation enacted by Parliament.
The three farm bills — the Farmer’s Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill, 2020 — were passed by Parliament recently. Subsequently, President Ram Nath Kovind gave his assent to the bills.
The Congress, many other opposition parties and several farmers organisations have been protesting against these legislations, claiming that these will harm the interests of farmers and benefit corporates, a claim denied by the government.
The Centre has asserted that these new laws will be beneficial for farmers and will increase their income. (AGENCIES)
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