Samajwadi Party observe 'Satyagraha' to protest Hathras horror & farm reform laws

On the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti, the Samajwadi Party workers and office-bearers on Friday conducted a Satyagraha by maintaining a two-hour-long silence at the Gandhi statues across Uttar Pradesh. The purpose of the Satyagraha was to protest against what they claimed the "murder of democracy" by the ruling government.

The party wanted to protest against the alleged deteriorating law and order situation in the state, unemployment, increasing crime against women and the recent farm and labour laws.

The Gang Rape incidents

This comes after the recent rape incidents that outraged the entire nation, besides the farm reform laws. A 19-year-old woman in a village in UP's Hathras district was brutally gang-raped when she was collecting fodder for her cattle on September 14. The victim, who was initially admitted to a local hospital in Hathras, was shifted for further treatment to Delhi's Safdarjung Hospital. She succumbed to her injuries on Tuesday, September 29. Four persons have been arrested by the police in this case.

Another similar case of gang rape had come to light from Balrampur where a 22-year-old woman died after being allegedly raped and assaulted on Tuesday evening. The two accused in the case have been arrested.

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Farm reform laws

Besides the rape cases, another reason for the Samajwadi Party workers and office-bearers to protest was the newly passed farm reform laws. The three laws for farmers -- The Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Service Act, 2020, and The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020 were passed in both houses of parliament followed by President Ram Nath Kovind's ascension. 

The Opposition has termed the laws as 'anti-farmer' by contending that the new laws will remove the concept of minimum support price (MSP) and will also abolish the APMC Mandis system, the Centre has repeatedly assured that the MSP mechanism will continue to exist in the new reform laws as well, moreover, the new laws will give the farmers, the freedom to sell their produce outside of the Mandis as against the earlier compulsion to sell only through Mandis, which led to corruption and less revenue to farmers. Also, farmers will also have the option to sell through Mandis if they wish too, the Centre has assured.

With the new laws, the farmers will have the option to sell directly to private sector entities without being dependent on the middlemen and APMC regulators where the root of corruption lies, while the opposition said that the entry of private entities into farm sector will lead to the farmers being at the mercy of the corporates.

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