Stormy Sunday in House as farm bills go through
Opposition leaders tear documents, chant slogans as bills are passed; PM says reforms a ‘watershed’ moment in history
NEW DELHI: Parliament on Sunday passed two farm bills despite chaos in the Rajya Sabha as opposition leaders charged towards the well, raised slogans, tore documents and tried to grab the Speaker’s microphone while protesting the rush with which the central government was giving passage to the controversial reforms.
While Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the reforms were a “watershed moment” for the country, opposition MPs including Congress and TMC leaders along with BJP ally SAD protested outside the House even after the session was adjourned for the day.
The Rajya Sabha passed two out of three bills, amid a war of words between Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lawmakers and those opposing the legislation. The third bill, intended to be part of the farm liberalisation plan, could not be taken up because the upper house adjourned for the day amid chaotic scenes, with opposition lawmakers tearing documents and shouting slogans against the bills.
The Lok Sabha had approved all three bills on Thursday. The passed bills will have to be signed by President Ram Nath Kovind, a formality before becoming law.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday described the reforms as a “watershed moment” in the history of Indian agriculture, and asserted that they will ensure a complete transformation of the farm sector and empower hundreds and thousands of farmers.
“We are here to serve our farmers. We will do everything possible to support them and ensure a better life for their coming generations,” the prime minister said in a series of tweets after the bills were cleared.
The legislation is aimed at reforming the deeply stressed farming sector and will give farmers freedom to market their produce, agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar said while tabling the proposed laws in the Upper House of Parliament. The bills are also aimed at removing middlemen from the farm trade and making farming market-oriented, the government has said.
After the bills were taken up on Sunday, the Opposition led by Congress said the bills were a “death warrant” for farmers – a charge vehemently denied by the BJP -- and demanded that they be sent to a select committee for scrutiny.
The Opposition charged that the two bills are aimed at benefitting big corporates and ending the minimum price based procurement by the government, though the Centre has maintained that the MSP system will continue.
KK Ragesh (CPI-M), Derek O’Brien (TMC), Trichi Siva (DMK) and KC Venugopal (Congress) moved resolutions for sending the two bills to a select committee of the House for consideration before they are taken up for passage.
Initiating the discussion on the two bills, Congress leader Partap Singh Bajwa slammed them as “ill-conceived and illtimed” and said his party “completely rejects” them. “We will not sign on death warrants of farmers protest, cops deployed at Haryana border
farmers,” he added.
“These bills need to be debated in Parliament. You have the numbers to have your way and we have the right to have our say and to keep you on track of parliamentary democracy,” said Trinamool Congress MP Derek O’Brien.“This is a very dangerous trend we are following. Select committee is not a hand break...it is there to contribute. I am going to move select committee,” he added.
The pandemonium began when the scheduled time for convening the House for the day was extended to allow passage of the bills. Opposition members, who felt this move should be resorted to only by consensus, rushed into the Well, shouting slogans against the government and accusing it of being anti-farmer.
This forced agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar to cut short his reply as deputy chairman Harivansh Singh took up the approval of the bills.
Four opposition sponsored motions to send the two bills to a House panel for greater scrutiny were negated by voice vote, but the Congress, TMC, CPM and DMK members sought a division of vote on the issue.
Singh overruled them, saying division of votes can take place only when members are on their seat, TMC leader Derek O’Brien charged towards the well, thrusting the rule book towards the podium.
House marshals then stepped in to stop the MPs as other leaders, including Siva, O’Brien, Venugopal and Ragesh tore papers and flung them into the air. The deputy chairman, after appealing the members to go back to their places and not come into the well due to Covid-19 protocol, finally adjourned the proceedings for 15 minutes.
When the House reassembled, opposition parties chanted slogans but this did not prevent the deputy chairman from putting the bill to voice vote.
The government has projected that its support plans in the agriculture sector will double farmers’ income by 2022.
The critics say the bills create an undemocratic mechanism by which bureaucrats become arbitrators to settle any contract disputes between farmers and buyers, rather than civil courts. They also say that in the absence of better infrastructure like climate-controlled storage facilities, proper roads and reliable irrigation and power supply, removing middlemen will not be helpful to farming sector.
Participating in the debate, former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda asked Modi to explain the short- and long-term impact of the bills on farmers. “The PM should explain why there’s a hurry to pass bills amid pandemic,” he said. Modi should “explain how it will help in achieving the government’s goal of doubling farmers’ income,” he added. Farmers have long been seen as the heart and soul of India, where agriculture supports more than half of the country’s 1.4 billion people. But they’ve also seen their economic clout diminish over the last three decades. Once accounting for a third of India’s gross domestic product, farmers now account for only 15% of the country’s $2.9 trillion economy.
Farmers, often complaining about being ignored, hold frequent protests to demand better crop prices, more loan waivers and even water delivery systems to guarantee irrigation during dry spells. Sometimes they stage sit-ins or dump truckloads of vegetables onto highways to disrupt traffic. Several protests by farmers were reported against the bills in Punjab and Haryana on Sunday.