BHOPAL: In contract farming, the farmland owners will become slaves, said the Leader of the Opposition, Kamal Nath, in his address on the debate in the Vidhan Sabha on Wednesday. The Chief Minister, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, raised an objection to the statement.
Members of both the major parties — the Congress and the BJP — participated in the vote of thanks on the Governor’s Address in the Assembly which began on Wednesday and will conclude on Thursday.
On the one hand, the BJP praised the work done in the past 11 months by the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government and, on the other, the Congress criticised the government on various fronts.
A small discussion on the agriculture laws was held by the Leader of the Opposition. He tried to make the point that corporate farming was going to harm the agricultural scenario of the state. At this, Chief Minister Chouhan stated, “This isn’t true! No one will be made a slave by the laws and, when my turn comes to participate in the debate, I’m going to inform you about the provisions.”
Nath added, “In the Governor’s Address, the name of Prime Minister Narandra Modi was mentioned 10 times. I thought to myself, ‘Am I in the Lok Sabha? Why is his name being chanted so many times’?” He alleged that the government was not serious about youth employment and investments, “The Address of the Governor highlighting the proposed works of the government didn’t contain even a single word about employment or investment.”
Taking a dig at BJP MLA Sitasharan Sharma, who had stated that the Congress party was ‘kachra’(garbage), Nath stated, “People of the state had washed out the ‘kachra’ in 2018. The fact that you’re sitting on that side isn’t because people have chosen you. That’s a different story.”
Talking about corona, he appreciated the work of the present BJP government, but was not ready to concede that there had been any carelessness on the part of his government. “In January and February, I used to hold video-conferencing with the collectors on the corona issue, but what could I do if my health minister was in Bangalore? Whom should I blame?”
The Leader of the Opposition also appreciated the present government’s drive against the mafia, but gave credit to his own government for having started the drive.
Other issues
Congress MLA Laxman Singh raised the issue of the tight budget on which the home department (police) was run, mentioning that one of the land mafia from Guna hiding in Bhopal had managed to escape simply because the police vehicle ran out of diesel. He also blamed BJP leaders for earning money through unfair means. “A person who didn’t have the money to buy a vehicle 20 years ago is now buying a bus stand at Guna. Is this called progress?”
Another Congress MLA, Dr Heeralal Alawa, raised the issue of Deepak Maravi, who died during the drug trials in Bhopal. “The drug which is blamed for Deepak’s death is just an anti-acidity drug and it can’t kill anybody in any case,” he said.
Former minister PC Sharma appreciated the law and order situation under the present government during the lockdown, but criticised the increased number of rapes that had happened in the state.
