Mumbai: The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) on Saturday said all three parties in the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government are opposed to the three Central agriculture laws. “The opposition to agriculture laws was yesterday, it will continue today and tomorrow. The state government will pass a resolution against these laws in the state legislative assembly,” said NCP chief spokesperson and state minister of minority affairs Nawab Malik.
Malik said the state government has already formed a cabinet sub-committee to study these laws and their provisions. After holding discussions with farmers’ leaders, the committee will submit its report to the state government. He said the government will not move forward until the draft report is approved by the farmers.
Malik clarified that party president Sharad Pawar has not given any advice to the Centre regarding the laws. “A section of the media is putting out news about it and misleading people. The NCP, since the beginning, is of the view that the three laws should be repealed,” he said.
State Congress chief Nana Patole shared Malik’s view. He said the laws will not be enforced in the state. “The state will make its own law and it will be drafted keeping in view the interests of the farmers,” he noted.
Malik’s statement came a day after the Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar welcomed Pawar’s statement where he reportedly said the Centre’s contentious farm laws need to be amended and not entirely rolled back. “I welcome the stand of ex-agriculture minister Sharad Pawar where he said that there’s no need to change the laws; the points on which there’s objection should be changed after deliberation. I welcome his stand. The Centre agrees with him, we want that matter to be resolved at earliest,” said Tomar.
Meanwhile, The All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee (AIKSCC) has appealed to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government to take an unequivocal stand that the Centre’s contentious three farm laws should be repealed. The farmers’ body has also demanded that a central law be enacted “to provide a guarantee to agricultural produce and pass a resolution in the Assembly”.
The AIKSCC has slammed the Maharashtra government for bringing a draft agriculture bill in the monsoon session without consulting farmers’ organisations.
