NCP chief also slammed Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari, said he has time to meet Kangana, but no time to meet the farmers delegation.
Mumbai: Former union Agriculture minister and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar on Monday slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for refusing to meet the farmers who are braving the elements and agitating at the borders of New Delhi for the last 60 days demanding the repealing of the three contentious farm laws. Addressing the farmers rally at Azad Maidan here he said “Has the PM inquired about the farmers in the last 60 days. They say there are farmers only from Punjab. Are they from Pakistan?”
The NCP chief also slammed Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari for going to Goa at a time when the farmer’s delegation was supposed to call on him at Raj Bhavan in Mumbai. Pawar remarked that the Governor has time to meet Bollywood actor Kangana Ranaut, but has no time to meet the farmer’s delegation. He added that never in the history of Maharashtra has the state got such a Governor.
The NCP chief remarked “it was the moral duty of the Governor to have met the farmer’s delegation, but he does not have that decency. He should have at least been there at Raj Bhavan”.
Meanwhile, in an official communiqué issued here in the evening, the Raj Bhavan clarified that Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari is holding additional charge of Governor Goa. He is in Goa to address the Goa assembly session on January 25. The farmer’s delegation leaders were intimated well in advance that the Governor was not in a position to meet them.
The Sanyukta Shetkari Morcha leader Dhananjay Shinde was telephonically informed about it on January 22 and so was Prakash Reddy in a written letter on January 24. Shinde had even acknowledged that he had received the WhatsApp message from the Governor’s office. Hence it is wrong to state that the Governor did not entertain their delegation. The Raj Bhavan further stated that Principal Secretary to the Governor Santosh Kumar would meet the delegation and receive their memorandum. The same was communicated to Dhananjay Shinde which he had acknowledged.
Pawar lauded the farmers from Punjab, Haryana, Western Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan to have braved cold weather conditions and staged an unprecedented agitation at the borders of the national capital. The NCP chief said that Mumbai had taken an aggressive lead in the Independence movement. Later Mumbai participated in the Sanyukta Maharashtra movement and now Mumbai is once again supporting the farmer’s agitation.
The former union Agriculture minister argued that the farmers from Punjab have also contributed to the freedom struggle and after that have picked up arms to fight the Chinese and Pakistanis at the border.
Justifying the NCPs support to the farmer’s agitation, Pawar said that the law was first mooted in 2003 when we (UPA) was not in the government. After the UPA came to power, I (Pawar) had called all the state Agriculture ministers for a meeting. There were three rounds of talks which remained inconclusive. He added that when the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power they without consulting anyone pushed through the laws.
The NCP chief further added that the law will have an adverse impact on the lives of the farmers. Pawar said that the opposition wanted the government to refer the law to the Joint Select Committee (JSC) which has members from the opposition as well and would have studied the law in full. Pawar alleged that the BJP led government has trampled upon constitutional propriety while enacting the laws. The former union Agriculture minister contended that during the previous UPA regime the government had given Minimum Support Price (MSP) to the farmers excluding their farm input costs.
Former chief minister and BJPs leader of opposition in legislative assembly Devendra Fadnavis slammed the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) for trying to agitate without the support of the farmers. Reacting to the farmers Morcha at Azad Maidan, he wanted to know as to why the Congress, NCP government in 2006 promoted Contract Farming in Maharashtra? “It is okay to have contract farming in the state, but it is wrong when the Center brings out the same. What double standards is it?” remarked Fadnavis.
Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee president and Revenue Minister Balasaheb Thorat slammed the Modi government for attacking the very existence of workers and farmers by bringing these anti-farmer laws. Addressing the rally he said that the contentious farm laws have exposed the Centre’s ploy to give the farmers lands to the capitalists through these laws. The Modi government tried many ways to end the farmers’ protest by using cold water cannons despite the bitter cold, but the farmers did not back down.
All India Kisan Sabha leader and CPI-M leader Dr Ajit Nawale stated that the farmer’s demands are that the Center should repeal the three pro-Corporate farm laws, enact law guaranteeing MSP. He argued that the Supreme Court of India does not have the jurisdiction to intervene in the matter as it is a policy matter. Ideally the SC should have heard the Punjab government petition that challenges the Centers powers in enacting laws on a state subject.
