About 200 protesting farmers started a parallel “Monsoon Session”, Kisan Sansad , near the Parliament House here on Thursday, condemning the three farm farm laws.
Members of Opposition parties staged protests in front of the Mahatma Gandhi statue inside the House complex. They urged the Centre to withdraw the farm laws and accept the demands of farmers. “They (the Centre and the BJP) are sticking on falsehood, injustice and audacity. We are fearlessly standing united upholding truth,” charged former Congress president Rahul Gandhi.
The BJP maintained that those who are protesting are not farmers. “They are hooligans. Farmers do not have so much time to come to Jantar Mantar and hold a protest. They are busy in their fields. These are people misled by some leaders and doing unlawful activities here,” BJP spokesperson and Minister of State Meenakshi Lekhi said. The Samyukt Kisan Morcha which is leading the protest claimed the Delhi Police attempted to stifle democracy even after the
‘Impacting livelihood’
The participants raised several points with regard to the unconstitutional nature of the law, the undemocratic processes by which the Government of India brought them in, and the serious implications that the law will have on farm livelihoods and circumventing APMCs SKM said.
The farmers said they are against de-regulation that favours hoarders and black-marketeers at the expense of farmers and consumers, and reiterated the demand for repeal of the Essential Commodities Amendments Act along with the other two central laws.