GUWAHATI, Sept 28 - Principal opposition Congress party today demanded immediate repeal of the three newly enacted Central legislations related to the farm sector. Hundreds of Congress party workers led by State unit president Ripun Bora, assembled at the Chachal protest ground on VIP Road this morning and held a sit-in demonstration. Some farmers, carrying ploughs and other agricultural implements, also participated in the protest.
The participants shouted slogans against the Narendra Modi-led NDA government and called for repeal of the three legislations.
The three controversial agricultural bills were passed by the Parliament during the recently concluded Monsoon Session. President Ram Nath Kovind gave his assent to the bills on Sunday, following which the bills have officially become laws. Farmers across many parts of the country, especially in the northern states, have hit the streets against the new legislations during the past week.
At the Chachal protest site, Bora and other party leaders addressed the gathering.
Later, a delegation of Congress party leaders met Governor Prof Jagdish Mukhi at the Raj Bhawan and handed to him a memorandum addressed to President Kovind alleging that the Modi government has �unleashed a diabolical conspiracy against India�s farmers and farming sector�. It added that the government has �subverted India�s federal structure, subjugated the constitutional mandate and suppressed the established parliamentary procedure by using its draconian majority to pass �the three black laws� without any discussion or prior consultation�.
The memorandum said that abolition of the Mandi system would deprive the farmers of their dues.
The party alleged that implementation of these legislations would convert the farmers into mere labourers in their own lands by entangling them in the contract system.
�The biggest flaw in the contract farming Bill is that giving Minimum Support Price (MSP) is not mandatory. When the Mandi system is abolished, then the farmer will be solely dependent on contract farming and the big companies will decide the price of the farmer�s crops on his field... farmers will be left at the mercy of big companies, courts and bureaucracy in the event of any dispute,� it said.
The party added that totally lifting the stock limit on agriculture produce will benefit neither the farmers nor the consumers. �It will only benefit a handful of people indulging in hoarding and black marketing,� stated the memorandum.
The party called upon President Kovind to intervene in the matter immediately to ensure that the legislations are repealed.
