12 Opposition leaders demand GoI resumes talks with farmers

Image Courtesy:indiatoday.in

Three days before the May 26,2021 Farmers Protest, Opposition parties across India extended their support to mark the completion of six months of the historic farmers’ struggle.

On May 23, as many as 12 major political parties of India issued a joint statement demanding that the central government “stop being obdurate” and resume talks with the farmers’ body Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM).

The statement was signed by Congress leader Sonia Gandhi, Janata Dal- Secular leader HD Deve Gowda, Nationalist Congress Party leader Sharad Pawar, Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee, Shiv Sena leader Uddhav Thackeray, DMK leader M.K. Stalin, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha leader Hemant Soren, Jammu and Kashmir National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah, Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav, Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejaswi Yadav, Communist Party of India leader D. Raja and Communist Party of India – Marxist leader Sitaram Yechury.

“We demand the immediate repeal of the farm laws and the legal entitlement to Minimum Support Price (MSP) of C2+50 percent as recommended by the Swaminathan Commission,” it said.

These are two of the four main agendas that have been discussed many times by farmer leaders and Ministers. The other demands are: Amendments to the “Commission Ordinance for Air Quality Management in the National Capital Region and adjoining areas, 2020” to exclude farmers from penal provisions; procedure for withdrawal of draft ‘Electricity Amendment Bill 2020’ to protect farmers.

Earlier, on May 12, leaders had also jointly written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi asking, “Repeal farm laws to protect lakhs of our annadatas becoming victims of the [Covid-19] pandemic so that they can continue to produce food to feed Indian people.”