Don't make farm laws a prestige issue, Opposition urges BJP
The farm laws dominated the debate during the Motion of Thanks to the President's Address in Rajya Sabha on Wednesday with the ruling BJP urging opponents not to make the farmers' agitation "another Shaheen Bagh" while the Opposition asked the government to repeal the legislation without making it a prestige issue.
Several speakers referred to the violence at Red Fort on Republic Day following the tractor rally and cases of sedition slapped against journalists and Congress MP Shashi Tharoor. Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad condemned calling Tharoor, who has served as a Minister of State in External Affairs, a "traitor".
"If Tharoor is a traitor, then all of us are traitors," he said.
The government and the Opposition arrived at a consensus to extend the debate time by five hours to discuss farmers' issue at the beginning of the session. However, AAP did not join the consensus and three of its MPs were marshalled out after they shouted slogans.
Initiating the debate, Assam MP Bhubaneswar Kalita said the new farm laws were passed after extensive deliberations in Parliament and that doors are "always open" for farmers so that the stalemate can be resolved amicably.
"The government is ready to discuss all issues concerning it. But my appeal to my friends is that they do not make it another Shaheen Bagh," Kalita, a former Congress MP who joined BJP in August 2019, said. Shaheen Bagh is known for the massive anti-CAA protest led by Muslim women but was panned by the ruling BJP and its allies.
"The benefits of these three important farm laws have started reaching more than 10 crore people and small farmers. There has been no reduction in the rights and facilities of farmers. Through these agriculture reforms, the government has given new rights to farmers," he said.
Azad demanded a withdrawal of the farm laws and asked the government not to make it a prestige issue. He suggested that Prime Minister Narendra Modi should make the announcement on the repeal himself. Condemning the Republic Day violence, he said disrespect to the national flag cannot be tolerated and that those involved should be punished. However, he warned against implicating "innocent" farmer leaders.
BJD's Prasanna Acharya also condemned the Red Fort incident and demanded an impartial probe, possibly by a sitting Supreme Court judge, saying one cannot just blame the farmers.
CPI(M)'s Elamaram Kareem said the government is not ready to accept the demands of the farmers "even after more than 150 farmers lost their lives in the numbing cold".
"Many of the farmer leaders are booked with fake charges in connection with the unfortunate incidents that happened on 26th January, which was equivocally condemned by all the organisations who are part of the peaceful protest. The government is trying to weaken this democratic protest by perpetrating violence and using force," he said.
"Even the electricity and water supply to the protest spots are being disconnected by the government. I urge the Government to yield to the demands of farmers and they should withdraw the farm laws immediately," Kareem added.