Kerala's ruling Left, Oppn Cong flay Centre over farm bills

The ruling Left and the Congress in Kerala on Sunday lashed out at the Centre over the farm bills passed in the Parliament, and said the government 'failed' to listen to the voices of the opposition.

In a statement, Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly and Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala said the bills ignored the agitations of farmers and did not concede their demands.

"The Bill which was passed despite strong opposition will be a death knell to the farmers.

It is aimed at handing over large tracts of land to corporates and to oust poor farmers from their own lands," Chennithala alleged.

He claimed that only the land mafia and food industry giants would stand to benefit from the Bill.

Referring to the Bill promoting contract farming, he said it would be 'detrimental' to Kerala.

"Currently, the genetically modified (GM) crops are not allowed to be cultivated in Kerala, but with the advent of contract cultivation, the company which gets the contract will be able to cultivate GM crops," Chennithala said.

He also claimed that the corporates that would fix the price of the crops will reap the benefits.

Rajya Sabha MP and the National Secretary of CITU, Elamaram Kareem, took to twitter and said Sunday was a "Dark day" for Indian democracy.

"Sabotaging of Parliamentary procedures. We MPs were denied our right to vote on a Bill. Govt feared defeat as opposition united for the farmers.

We were manhandled and our voices were not heard. Shame on this Government," he said.

Today, the Rajya Sabha passed the Farmer's Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020, and the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020.

A third bill, the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill, 2020 that seeks to remove commodities like cereals, pulses, oilseeds, onion, and potatoes from the list of essential commodities and will do away with the imposition of stock holding limits, is to be moved separately in the upper house.

All three bills have already been passed by the Lok Sabha.

The bills are facing opposition from farmer bodies as well as from within the ruling NDA coalition.