Ex-Haryana CM asks Centre to repeal 'farm laws'; says 'mid-term polls likely to be held'

Former Haryana Chief Minister and Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) chief OP Chautala on Tuesday said that the Centre's 3 contentious farm laws should be withdrawn. While stating that India is an agriculture-based country, OP Chautala said that agriculture is the backbone of the Indian economy. The former Haryana CM further said that this ongoing agitation is not only of farmers and labourers but of the entire nation. 

OP Chautala visits Ghazipur border

During his visit to the Ghazipur border, where the farmers are staging a protest against the farm laws, OP Chautala said, "We will fight for farmers' right". Asserting that several leaders are leaving the ruling party, the INLD supremo said that mid-term elections can take place anytime. It is important to mention here that earlier also, he had predicted early polls by asserting that every citizen is aggrieved to BJP's "wrong politics".

OP Chautala is a 4-time Chief Minister and the grandfather of current Haryana Deputy CM Dushyant Chautala. He was jailed in 2013 after being convicted along with his son Ajay Chautala and 53 others over illegal recruitment of 3,206 junior basic teachers. However, after serving 10 years of prison term, OP Chautala was released on emergency parole on Match 26, 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Owing to the Delhi government's recent order of granting 6-month remission to all those, who served 9 and a half years of their 10-year prison term, the former Haryana CM became a free man on July 2. 

OP Chautala on farm laws

Om Prakash Chautala has been critical of the Centre's policies even before. Earlier on December 28, 2020, the INLD supremo wrote to PM Modi opposing the implementation of The Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020 and The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020. This came even as his grandson's party JJP backed the legislation with some amendments.

Lamenting that the farmers' agitation was going on for a long time owing to the Centre's stubbornness, he had said that the farmers could not accept these laws taking into account their financial situation. In order to support his argument further, the INLD supremo claimed that Bihar's farmers were forced to work as labourers in Punjab, Haryana and a few other states. Expressing apprehension that the consequences for the country will not be good if the peaceful agitation turns violent, he pointed out that many farmers have already lost their lives during the stir. Chautala had further called upon the Centre to either repeal the agrarian laws or keep them in abeyance until all unions and experts consent to them. 

Currently, the talks between the Union government and the farmers' unions have come to a standstill. The divide between the two sides further exacerbated on January 26 after the farmers' tractor rally turned violent resulting in 510 Delhi police personnel getting injured and extensive damage to public property. While the Supreme Court has stayed the implementation of the farm laws, a committee appointed by the apex court submitted its report pertaining to the legislation in a sealed cover on March 19. 

(Image: ANI, AP)