Tomar defends farm bills, says Cong ‘ double- faced’
Targets Manmohan, Pawar; says withdraw 2019 Cong manifesto
Reiterating the Narendra Modi government’s commitment to farmers’ welfare, agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Thursday cited the reports of various commissions and the views of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and former agriculture minister Sharad Pawar to say that the three farm bills passed in the just- ended Monsoon Session of Parliament were in line with their recommendations.
Accusing the Congress of being “double faced,” the minister said the Congress should first disassociate
itself from its 2019 election manifesto which promised what these bills are aimed at, and said the Opposition members’ criticism during the debates in Parliament was never about the provisions of these proposed laws but
on things they didn’t have or other unconnected issues. Saying the minimum support price ( MSP) was always an administrative decision of the government and would continue to exist, Mr Tomar
■ Continued from Page 1 asked the Congress why it never made it part of any law during the UPA period if it was so worried about the issue and about farmers. The Opposition parties and the BJP’s own ally Shiromani Akali Dal had opposed the three farm sector bills’ passage, claiming that they were anti- farmer.
Saying that with the passage of these bills, farmers will not only get remunerative prices for their produce, they will now be able to sell their produce to anyone, will be saved from transporting their produce to mandis, will not have to pay tax outside mandis, will get fair prices in a stipulated time period unlike in mandis, and small farmers will be the one who will get the maximum benefit.