Ahead of a two-day special Assembly session to counter the Central government’s farm laws, Punjab Cabinet on Sunday authorised Chief Minister Amarinder Singh to take any legislative or legal decision he may deem fit to protect farmers’ interests.
The decision was taken after a meeting of the Congress Legislative Party (CLP) in which party MLAs unanimously stressed the need to reject the farm laws outright and not to implement these in the state.
Amarinder Singh too called for a frontal attack against the legislations. According to an official statement, the state Cabinet authorised the CM “to take any legislative/legal decision he may deem fit to protect interests of farmers”. Meanwhile, the state government also decided to extend the one-day special Assembly session to two days, starting Monday. According to officials, a formal decision to extend the session to two days would be taken at the Business Advisory Committee of the Legislative Assembly before the session starts on Monday.
“This fight will go on, we will fight this till the Supreme Court,” the Chief Minister said at the meeting of the Congress Legislative Party (CLP). Referring to the demand raised by many Kisan Unions some days back for an immediate session of the Assembly, the Chief Minister said this could not be done earlier as all legal implications had to be examined thoroughly before taking any step.
The Chief Minister said the views of the MLAs would be taken into account while finalising the strategy to battle the Farm Laws, in consultation with legal and independent experts, including senior lawyers and AICC leader P Chidambaram. He said that the whole world was watching Punjab with a lot of expectation and the views of the MLAs were extremely important for drafting a comprehensive strategy to protect the state’s farmers and agriculture. The fight will continue till the Supreme Court, he said.
He said that the fight for the Congress was not about politics but to save Punjab’s agriculture and its farmers. Captain Amarinder added any decision would be taken in the interest of the farming community. Taking a dig at the Akalis, the Chief Minister said the Congress had no double standard and had a clear stand on the issue of the Farm Laws. His own stand was also clear, he said, adding that contrary to what the BJP and its leaders had been claiming, Punjab was not consulted at any point on the new legislations. He said that it was only after he wrote to the Prime Minister that Punjab was included in the Committee formed by the Union Government to discuss agricultural reforms.
The Chief Minister said the first meeting of the panel had already been held by that time. The issue was not discussed at the second meeting of the Committee, attended by Finance Minister Manpreet Badal, while at the third meeting, attended by officials, a one-line diktat was issued, with no mention anywhere of the Ordinances, he added.
Earlier, the Punjab Congress MLAs were unanimous in their opinion that the Centre’s farm legislations should be totally rejected and the state should make suitable amendments to provide for strict action, including imprisonment, for those who purchase wheat or paddy at less than the MSP. Several legislators said that there is a need for aggressively countering the propaganda being spread by opposition parties against the state government and the party on the issue of the Farm Laws.
The MSP and Mandi system had to be protected at all costs, and farm laws had to be countered effectively, they said, adding that the message needs to go out clearly that the Farm Laws are not acceptable to Punjab, they said. Meanwhile, to improve the state’s investment climate and generate employment, the Punjab Cabinet on Sunday approved conversion of the Factories (Punjab Amendment) Ordinance, 2020 into a Bill to be tabled for enactment in the Vidhan Sabha on Monday. The approval came during a meeting of the Council of Ministers, headed by Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh.