New bills will push farm sector into private hands: Aam Aadmi Party

The farm reform bills will push the farming sector into the hands of private firms, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) claimed on Monday as its workers protested the proposed legislations here.

Scores of AAP workers carried out a protest demonstration against the BJP-led Centre for the passage of two bills, dubbed as the biggest reform in agriculture by the government, in the Rajya Sabha on Sunday amid opposition by rival parties.

The party workers claimed they were briefly detained by the police while they were en route to the city magistrate's office to hand over a memorandum.

"The central government brought those bills to hand over the reins of agriculture from farmer to corporate houses,” AAP's Gautam Buddh Nagar unit president Bhupendra Judaun alleged.

He claimed that the proposed legislations will give corporations freedom to exploit the farming community.

AAP's Noida city unit chief Prashant Rawat claimed that the bills will “give power to anybody to hoard essential staples” and apprehended that it may lead to a situation of “black marketing and inflation”.

AAP's local spokesperson Sanjeev Nigam claimed that it was “unconstitutional” the way the bills were passed in the Rajya Sabha without proper discussion amid bitter opposition.

Nigam also alleged that his party workers were briefly detained by the Sector 20 police in Noida while they all were at the city magistrate's office.

The Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020 and The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020 were on Sunday passed by Rajya Sabha with voice vote. The two bills were earlier cleared by Lok Sabha.