Farmer union leaders say the year-long agitation will be withdrawn only after Parliament passes a law to repeal the three contentious agri laws and their other demands are met
Farmers celebrate after PM Modi announced repealing of farm laws, at Tikri Border in Delhi, on Friday. Pic/PTI
Distributing sweets and dancing, farmers, who have been camping at the Singhu border for over a year, were a happy lot on Friday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the repealing of the three farm laws in the upcoming winter session of Parliament. The fight, however, is not over yet and the protest sites will not be vacated, the agitators said.
Bharatiya Kisan Union leader Rakesh Tikait said the protest will be withdrawn only after the three legislations are repealed in Parliament, and legal guarantee on minimum support price (MSP) for crops made. “The farmers are not going back home without this... Where we are today (Palghar), crops are not bought at MSP. The issue of MSP is one that affects entire nation,” Tikait said, asking the Centre to hold fresh talks.
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Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) leader Hannan Mollah also said they will now press for a law to guarantee MSP. SKM’s core committee member Darshan Pal said, “To bring a consensus on the future course of the agitation and discuss MSP and other demands, the farmers’ body will meet on Saturday and Sunday. The final decision will be taken on Sunday.” Addressing the nation on the occasion of Guru Nanak Jayanti, Modi said the farm laws were for the benefit of farmers but “we couldn’t convince a section of farmers despite best efforts”.
Hundreds of farmers have been encamped at Delhi’s borders since November 26, 2020, demanding repeal of Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, Farmers’ (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020, and a law to guarantee MSP for crops.
BJP hopes to regain ground in Punjab, placate Jats in UP
As the campaign for the upcoming assembly polls gathers pace, PM Modi’s decision underlines the ruling BJP’s imperative to make amends and infuse a fresh momentum in its political drive, especially in efforts to retain its dominance in Uttar Pradesh. With sections of Jats seemingly angry with the BJP and even several Jat leaders of the party admitting to slide in their fortunes in the western UP, where the community is concentrated, the region was seen as a roadblock in its efforts to repeat its 2017 show in the upcoming polls. BJP leaders said the decision also shows the party’s genuine efforts to win over the Sikhs, who, joined by sections of Jat farmers in Haryana and western UP, have been in the vanguard of the prot-ests, in Punjab. While the party will hope to make a fresh political start in Pun-jab in an expected tie up with former chief minister Amarinder Singh, its stakes are the highest in UP.
How will farm laws be repealed?
The Centre will have to move a bill in Parliament to repeal the three agri laws, Constitution and legal experts said on Friday. “For repeal, the power of Parliament is the same as enacting a law under the Constitution,” explained former Union law secretary P K Malhotra. “There is no other way,” said former Lok Sabha secretary general P D T Acharya, adding that the government can repeal the three laws through a single repealing bill. “When a repeal bill is passed, it is also a law,” observed Malhotra. They are laws passed by Parliament which have received assent of the President, said Malhotra, noting that they can be repealed by Parliament alone.
Pleas in SC
Several pleas challenging the laws are pending before the Supreme Court, and they would become infructuous after the Centre either passes a law or brings an ordinance to repeal these statutes, said senior lawyer and constitutional law expert Rakesh Dwivedi. He said that now the top court is not required to deal with the constitutionality of contentious provisions of the laws.
‘Modi chose politics over farmers’
Supreme Court-appointed farm panel member Anil Ghanwat described as regressive the Centre’s decision to repeal the farm laws. “This is the most regressive step by PM Narendra Modi, as he chose politics over farmers’ betterment,” he told PTI. “They [BJP] just want to win elections and nothing else.” He said the decision has “now closed the doors of all types of reforms in agriculture and its marketing sector. The farmers’ interest has been sacrificed over the party’s political interest.”
‘Election gimmick’
Priyanka Gandhi, Congress leader
‘Modi ji, your minister’s son crushed the farmers to death, you didn’t care. Your party leaders insulted the farmers and called them terrorists, traitors, you your-
self called them ‘andolanjeevi’; beat them with sticks, arrested them. Now, sensing defeat in polls, you have suddenly started to realise the reality — the country has been built by farmers’
Mahua Moitra, TMC leader
‘Whether it was fear of losing UP or finally facing up to conscience @BJP govt rolls back farm laws... But till the farm laws are actually repealed in Parliament, we can’t trust the BJP’
Pinarayi Vijayan, chief minister, Kerala
‘Indian farmers have written a great page in the history of class struggle for an egalitarian world. Greetings to farmers who fought tirelessly overcoming several challenges’
Sept 27, 2020
Day the three farm bills got President nod, became laws
Nov 26, 2020
Day Punjab, Haryana farmers reached Delhi border to protest
750
No. of farmers, farm workers who died during the protest
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