Kamal Nath links farm laws to privatisation of agriculture, blames RSS thought process

Addressing a press briefing on Thursday, ex-Madhya Pradesh CM Kamal Nath linked the Centre's introduction of farm legislation to the thought process of RSS and Jana Sangh. While RSS is BJP's ideological fountainhead, Jana Sangh was the previous avatar of the latter. Nath contended that RSS and Jana Sangh has consistently backed privatization after India's Independence.

To buttress his point, the senior Congress leader recalled that Jana Sangh had opposed the bank nationalisation in 1969 and the nationalisation of coal mines in 1973. According to him, the three farm laws would result in the privatisation of the agriculture sector. At present, thousands of farmers are participating in a tractor rally on the Kundli-Manesar-Palwal Expressway as well as the Western Peripheral Expressway. 

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Protest against farm laws

From what started as a scheduled protest in the national capital on November 26 and 27, 2020, many farmers are still protesting at the borders of Delhi against 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. While the Centre appealed to them to shift to the Nirankari Samagam Ground in Burari, only a section of farmers heeded this call. Apart from the 7 rounds of meetings that have taken place between Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Tomar and the farmers' leaders, Union Home Minister Amit Shah also met them on one occasion.

The stalemate over the agrarian laws continued as the 8th round of talks between the farmers' unions and the Centre on Monday could not yield any outcome. In the previous deliberations, the Union government had agreed not to penalise farmers for stubble burning and to continue the present mechanism of giving subsided electricity for agricultural use. Moreover, there was no consensus on legalising Minimum Support Price. The next round of talks will be held at 2 pm on January 8 which shall again centre around the farmers' concerns over the MSP and the three farm laws. 

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