Priyanka Gandhi slams Centre at Kisan Mahapanchayat, claims 'Mandis will be shut down'

Amid the farmers' protests which have continued unabated despite repeated efforts from the Centre to allay the fear of agitating farmers, Congress General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Saturday hit out at Centre over the farm laws. While addressing a Kisan Mahapanchayat in Muzaffarnagar, the Congress leader claimed that the APMC markets (Mandis), from where government procures farmers' produce at MSP, will gradually shut down after the implementation of the new farm laws.

"Slowly and gradually the government Mandis will be shut down and you know you get MSP from the Mandis," Priyanka Gandhi said.

She further alleged that a billionaire will not pay the dues under contract farming and farmers will not have the option to go to courts. This statement by the Congress leader comes despite the states of Punjab, Haryana, MP, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Chhattisgarh have been practising contract farming even before the new laws came into existence.

One of the newly made farm laws The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act 2020 provides the required legal framework to facilitate contract farming in agriculture and allied activities, by way of guaranteed purchasing and minimising uncertainty regarding prices. The laws help break the shackles of the farmers by providing a legal framework for the farmers to directly deal with the buyers without being compulsively dependent on middlemen which used to take a substantial chunk of the revenue thereby not letting the farmers get their rightful price.

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Priyanka Gandhi targets PM Modi

Targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Priyanka Gandhi further said in the Mahapanchayat that the PM could go to America, Pakistan, China but couldn't go to the protesting farmers at the Delhi borders. Priyanka Gandhi also mentioned PM Modi's promise to double farmers' income and asked how many farmers' incomes have been doubled.

PM Modi had earlier made a statement of doubling farmers' income by 2022 and has claimed on multiple occasions that the new farm laws were a significant step in that direction. However, like Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi too alleged that the prime minister is giving benefits to "two friends'" - referring to the two industrialists, at the cost of looting the farmers'.

Meanwhile, the deadlock between the agitating farmers and the Centre continues. The Centre has held ten rounds of deliberations with farmers to allay their concerns. The Centre has also stayed the implementation of laws for 18 months and given assurance on the continuance of the MSP mechanism. The agitating farmers' unions, however, remain adamant on their demand for a complete repeal of the laws. The agitating Unions have also refused to participate in the Supreme Court-appointed panel to solicit the views of the farm unions and the Centre. The Sanyukt Kisan Morcha - an umbrella body of agitating farmers unions, has decided to hold Kisan Mahapanchayats across the country to gather support against the new farm laws.

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