Kerala Assembly passes resolution against Centre's farm laws; lone BJP MLA also backs it

In the special session on Thursday, the Kerala Assembly passed a resolution against the three farm laws and demanded their repeal. The resolution states that the genuine concerns of the farmers should be addressed and the Centre should withdraw all three farm laws. CM Pinrayi Vijayan and Governor Arif Mohammad Khan had been at loggerheads over the issue of the special session of the Kerala Assembly. The Kerala Government had written to Governor Arif Mohammad Khan to convene a special Assembly session which the latter had turned down, after which Vijayan government threatened to move the top court. 

The resolution was passed unanimously with the support of both ruling-LDF and opposition-UDF legislators, while the lone BJP MP O. Rajagopal said, "Similar farm laws were promised by Congress in their poll manifesto. CPI(M) also demanded to bring in such laws. Now, both parties are opposing it. Farmers shouldn't be misguided."  However, during the vote, he voted in favour of the resolution. While tabling the resolution on Thursday, CM Vijayan stated, "Kerala could not bear the impact of such a situation particularly amid the ravaging COVID-19 pandemic. There should be a system where agricultural products are procured by the Central government and distributed to the needy at fair prices. Instead, it has allowed corporates to take over the trade in agricultural products. The Centre is shirking its responsibility of providing fair prices to farmers."

It added, "Considering all this, the Kerala Legislative Assembly is requesting the Central government to cancel these three farm laws and accept the demands by farmers."

PM Modi has earlier pointed out that Kerala does not have the Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) system, and in such a case, why is it opposing the farm laws? To this, the left parties had responded saying that the state has an alternative system involving horticorp outlets and vegetable and fruit-promotion councils.

Here is the full anti-farm laws resolution:

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The Punjab government had on October 21 became the first state in the country to pass a resolution against the Centre’s contentious farm laws and the proposed Electricity (Amendment) Bill. The state government demanded the immediate annulment of the laws, and also passed a new ordinance to protect the minimum support price (MSP). 

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Talks between farmers and Centre

The seventh round of discussions between the Centre and the farmers' unions ended on late Wednesday evening. The nearly 5-hour long deliberations on Wednesday ended inconclusively forcing another round which has been scheduled on January 4. The 4-point agenda set by the farmers' unions was tabled in the meeting, with the government conceding to two demands, Union Agriculture Minister confirmed.  The Centre has agreed to keep farmers out of the ambit of the penalty for stubble burning and has also conceded to the demand of not going ahead with the Electricity Amendment Bill 2020. As per sources, during the meeting, the government had told the farmers that the demands and issues related to the three agricultural laws can be discussed by forming a committee while explaining the long process of making and abolishing laws.

The Union Government maintained that the laws will not be repealed, but agreed to talk on MSP later, asking the farmers to stop their agitation, once again. Amid the talks, Union Ministers - Narendra Singh Tomar, Piyush Goyal and Som Parkash joined the farm union leaders in their 'Lunch Langar.'

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