Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, July 2: The reported shift in the stand on the three contentious farm laws by the veteran leader and the Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar has been widely appreciated by the Narendra Modi government.
According to a report by the government-controlled Doordarshan, Pawar, who was very critical of the three farm laws and supported the seven-month old farmers’ agitation for total repeal of the acts, told a gathering at a private university in Mumbai on Thursday that the new farm laws “need not be rejected totally and necessary amendments must be carried out to remove the controversial portions.”
Promptly welcoming Pawar’s stand, the union agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar reminded that this exactly was the central government’s stand which time and again had offered for talks with the agitating farmers to understand their points of grievances and carry out amendments in the acts if necessary.
“I welcome this statement of the former agriculture minister. I’d like to tell him that the Central government agrees with him. We have discussed this with the farmer union eleven times. The Narendra Modi government is willing to reconsider the areas that seem problematic to farmers who have been agitating for over six months, the Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said.
“The central government hopes this matter will be resolved through discussions and this agitation ends and all farmers return to their homes. The government of India is willing to reconsider with an open mind the issues that seem problematic,” Tomar said.
Thousands of farmers have, since November 2020, been protesting against the Central government’s three agricultural laws passed last year: the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, Farmers’ (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020, and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.
According to Doordarshan, Pawar, a former Union Agriculture Minister himself, on Thursday said certain amendments can be made to the three farm laws instead of rejecting them in their entirety. He said parts of contention that were causing grievances to the farming community could be amended instead of the entire laws being scrapped. He also noted that all aspects of the Farm Laws needed to be studied in detail first before arriving at a decision
Considering the statements on the issue Pawar had made earlier this year, it was a total shift in the stand. In February, Pawar’s NCP had demanded a total repeal of the three farm laws. Earlier, in January, the 80-year-old had strongly criticized the laws saying that these would adversely affect the minimum support price (MSP) and weaken the country’s mandi system.
“This government (Centre) is trying to destroy farmers…you can topple such a government,” Pawar, the main architect of the three-party Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in Maharashtra comprising the Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress, had said addressing a gathering of farmers in Mumbai in January.
The BJP had claimed that Pawar had pushed for similar reforms to be introduced during his tenure as the UPA Minister in 2008 where he had sought to amend APMC Act to allow private sector participation. However, he joined other opposition parties in supporting the ‘Bharat Bandh’ called on December 8 by farmer unions and supported the call to repeal the Centre’s new laws.
The political circles in Mumbai, however, sought to connect Pawar’s shift in stand on the farm laws with the Enforcement Directorate’s raids on the Maharashtra deputy chief minister and his nephew Ajit Pawar. The claimed that a company linked to Ajit Pawar and his wife was involved in the Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank (MSCB) scam. The Central anti-corruption agency attached a ₹ 65 crore sugar mill in connection with the case, media reports said.
