After Trinamul Congress chief Mamata Banerjee yesterday made several calls and spoke to the farmers who were protesting by parking their tractors and other vehicles on highway at Singhu Border, a five member delegation of Shiromoni Akali Dal came to Trinamul Bhavan to discuss about the further mode of agitation.
The delegation was led by Prem Singh Chandumujra, vice president and spokesperson of Shiromoni Akali Dal and former MP.
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Prem Singh Chandumujra during a joint Press Conference with Sudip Bandopadhyay, Trinamul Congress Lok Sabha MP and leader thanked Mamata Banerjee for expressing her support and solidarity with their agitation.
He said that his party will approach all regional political parties to strengthen their fight against the Centre and would force the Centre to repeal the Draconian law.
He said, “It is not only a farmer’s problem it is a problem of the whole nation. Even the Prime Minister of Canada has expressed his solidarity with our movement. So we want to involve all the regional political parties to fight with us against the Centre and will pursue the Centre to repeal this Draconian Law.”
He also condemned the way the police used water canons and bursted tear gas shells to disperse the farmers who were agitating for a genuine cause. He slammed the Centre for corporatizing the farm land. He wanted to know for which multi-national company, the Centre has brought the Bill? Sudip Bandopadhyay also said, “In the Farmer’s Bill minimum support price was not mentioned. The concept of Mandi was also omitted from the Bill.”
He said, “As a chairman of the Parliamentary Committee of essential commodities we were surprised to see essential commodities like potatoes and onions were not included in the Bill.” He said that many states still depend on essential commodities like rice and wheat which are also omitted from the list of essential commodities. Bandopadhyay said, “The Centre should have called for an all party meeting before tabling a sensitive bill like the Farmer’s Bill. We have protested both in the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha and staged dharna outside the Parliament.” He said that the Bill should have been referred to the Standing Committee or to the Select Committee and the Government should carefully go through the recommendations of the Standing Committee.
He said, “Yesterday Derek O’Brien met the farmers at the Singhu Border and Mamata Banerjee who led the farmer’s movement fourteen years ago spoke to them and expressed her solidarity.” “We are aware of the plight of the farmer’s and extend all our support to this movement,” Bandopadhyay said.
