Says Govt should have repealed laws much earlier
Nishikant Khajuria
JAMMU, Nov 19: Welcoming the repeal of farm laws, senior Congress leader and former Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad has sought to differentiate the abrogation of Article 370 from the controversial farm laws, which, he said, were universally opposed.
“In that case (revocation of Article 370), some people were in favour, some were against the abrogation. But for farm laws, no one was in favour. Everyone opposed it irrespective of region and religion,” he said in response to a query, while talking to media person, here today.
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Azad opined that it would have been better if the farm laws had not been passed in the Parliament itself amid vehement opposition from all the parties. The year-long protests resulted in many deaths and miseries to the people that could have been avoided, he added.
“It would have been done when it was being discussed in Parliament. Many protests and walkouts happened in Parliament. All political parties wanted this to be repealed. We welcome it with heavy heart as many people died during protest dharnas,” said Azad.
Reiterating that it would have been better that PM and NDA Government took this decision (repeal of farm laws) a year and a half back thus saving precious lives, Azad said that the farmers have lots of demands and therefore Government should speak to them and remove the misgivings.
“It is obvious that the Bill will be brought back in the forthcoming Parliament session, which is commencing from November 29. I hope that in the next 10 days, Government will talk to farmers and resolve all the outstanding issues otherwise there could be more confrontation,” he cautioned.
Maintaining that factor of forthcoming Assembly elections in some States has played the role in repeal of farm laws, Azad hoped that the Government shall not repeat such mistakes and will thoroughly scrutinize such anti-people bills in future.
“Election only has played the role and that is obvious. I need not to tell that. This may be byproduct but ultimately the Government has accepted to withdraw this bill and this is good thing, which could have happened when Parliament was in session, debates were going on and protest walkouts were being staged by the opposition,” he said and added that the Government should not have made it (repeal of farm laws) a prestige issue as it was not demand of a region or religion.
Responding to a query with regard to BJP pitching for Uniform Common Civil Code, Azad suggested that people should not raise such issues, which divide the nation.
“Let us not discuss all such issue at the time when elections are approaching in next two months,” he said.
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