Stormy Sunday in House as 2 contentious farm bills cleared

NEW DELHI: The government rushing through two contentious farm bills, and fierce protests from the Opposition — senior leaders charged towards the seat of deputy chairman Harivansh, who was presiding over the proceedings; jumped onto tables; and shot videos of the ruckus — turned the Rajya Sabha into a battleground on Sunday.

The authorities called in marshals to form a double-layered barricade to protect Harivansh and remove an MP, as the Opposition said live telecast of the proceedings was muted, and its demand for a division (voting through paper ballots) on the legislation was rejected.

The two agricultural reform bills — the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020 and the Farming Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020 — were cleared by voice vote in Parliament even as the Opposition protested and stormed the well of the House seeking that they be sent to a select committee.

The high-pitch protests were the most aggressive in recent years, and continued even after the House was adjourned at 1pm. Opposition parties sat in the Rajya Sabha after the House was adjourned and drafted a no-confidence motion against Harivansh, who was elected deputy chairman of the Rajya Sabha on September 14, the opening day of the curtailed monsoon session, before posting comments and releasing videos on Twitter.

Among the leaders who were seen on camera protesting near the chairperson’s desk were DMK leader T Siva, TMC MP Derek O’Brien, the Congress’s KC

Venugopal and the AAP’s Sanjay Singh. Some other Opposition members were seen tearing pages, and rushing to the chairman’s desk to protest.

“If Babasaheb Ambedkar was alive, he would have hung his head in shame seeing what tactics BJP used today, in an Independent India, to forcefully pass bills pertaining to farmers. Only a heartless and anti-farmer government like the colonial British can do this,” said senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel outside Parliament.

The BJP hit back and slammed the “intolerance” of opposition parties. “The Opposition has showed height of intolerance in Parliament today. They think of themselves as baadshah (kings). We condemn the unruly behaviour of the Opposition and we will never budge to such threats,” said parliamentary affairs minister Pralhad Joshi.

The Narendra Modi government had brought amendments to three farm bills through ordinances in June to unleash reforms in agriculture and allow farmers more flexibility in selling their produce. Many experts had hailed the reforms as significant, but some farmer bodies and opposition parties alleged that the new laws would only benefit corporate entities and traders but not the farmers.

In the House on Sunday morning, the trouble started when the allotted time to discuss the two bills was reduced from four hours to three-and-a-half hours. Opposition leaders including the TMC’s O’Brien and DMK’s Siva gave notices to send the bills to a select committee of Parliament, but the government rejected the demand.

Their second demand — for a division on the bills — too was rejected as the government was in a hurry to clear the bills.