Mumbai: The Congress party on Saturday held a state-wide agitation against the three farm laws recently enacted by the Centre. Congress party’s Maharashtra in-charge KH Patil, who visited the Gandhi Ashram at Wardha and later at the rally, slammed the Centre saying that the three farm laws were framed for the benefit of a handful of industrialists.
‘’Those three laws will take away the rights of the farmers and that is why the Congress party is standing firmly behind them with all its might. The struggle of the Congress is to keep the rights of the farmers intact," said Patil.
Even though Congress is sharing power with Shiv Sena in Maharashtra, it has been at the forefront to take an aggressive stand against the Centre’s move to enact the three new farm laws. The strong opposition by the Congress led to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray agreeing to form a cabinet sub-committee to hold extensive talks with stakeholders to decide the fate of these laws in the state.
Revenue Minister and state Congress chief Balasaheb Thorat explained that a state-wide satyagraha was organised to strongly protest against the three farm laws being anti-farmers. ‘’The Central government is trying to crush the farmers and workers by taking their rights away from them. And we are opposed to this. This fight is for the farmers, for the backward classes and for the poor,’’ he noted.
Thorat further added that the former Chief Minister Yashwantrao Chavan created the market committee system keeping in view the interests of the farmers in the state. ‘’This system is now being dismantled and the support it offered to the farmers is being taken away. The law does not have clarity regarding the minimum support price. It is also difficult for the farmers to seek appeal under the law. There are many errors in this law. The law will promote inflation as it encourages hoarding,’’ he alleged.
