Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has attacked Trinamool Congress (TMC) on the issue of new farm laws and alleged that Bengal’s governning party was against the new laws because they threatened to stop “cutmoney”.
BJP West Bengal president, Dilip Ghosh, at a ‘Cha Chakra’ event in West Midnapore’s Mohanpur, said to the farmers, “See, the government had set the MSP for one quintal wheat at Rupees 1720. Has anyone of you ever sold one quintal wheat at that price?”
As the farmers replied with a “No”, Ghosh continued, “Exactly, no one has managed to sold wheat beyond Rupees 1200-1300. So, all the brokers and middlemen are taking away 500 rupees per quintal.
“To stop the farmers from facing losses, the Prime Minister has introduced the news farm laws. The laws say that anyone can sell their products to anyone anywhere. The laws have changed but our didimoni is opposing them.”.
Hitting back at Ghosh, veteran TMC leader Saugata Roy said, as seen on ABP Ananda, “The whole country is opposing the new farm laws. The main reason for the opposition is that unlike earlier when farmers used to sell their products at the government mandis under the APMC Act, the new laws have allowed the big businesses to buy from farmers anywhere.”
“The farmers fear that with new laws, the agri industty would be controlled by the big corporates and they wouldn’t get the minimum support price that theynare guaranteed at the mandis,” Roy added.
Reminding Ghosh about TMC’s association with the farmers, the Dum Dum MP said that from Nandigram to Singur, the Mamata Banerjee-led party always fought for the interest of the peasants and would continue to do so.
Meanwhile, the protesting farmers at Delhi borders have decided to block Delhi-Jaipur highway on Saturday after their demands were not met following the sixth round of talks between them and the government.
In order to contain the situation, two thousand policemen are on duty in Gurgaon and 3,500 policemen are on duty in Faridabad, officials said.
On Wednesday, the government suggested that the Minimum Support Price (MSP) for the crops will stay.
The proposal was sent with written amendments that the government intends to implement, with the government assuring that the MSP will continue.
It was conveyed by the government via a written proposal to protesting farmers a day after several farmers’ groups held a meeting at the Singhu border to discuss the future course of action as both sides remain firm on their stances.