Farm bills row: 15 opposition parties pen joint letter to President, urge him not to sign

In a major development on Monday, 15 opposition parties wrote a joint letter to President Ram Nath Kovind urging him to not give assent to the farm bills passed by Parliament. They alleged that democracy was "murdered" in the Rajya Sabha on September 20 when The Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020 and The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020 were taken up for discussion and passage. Maintaining that there is no place for arrogance, they claimed that the voice of MPs speaking for the farmers was stifled.

While the farm bills were cleared via voice vote, the parties highlighted that a division of votes was not allowed by Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairperson Harivansh Narayan Singh. Moreover, they accused the Centre of not building consensus on extending the duration of the proceedings beyond 1 pm. In another serious charge, the letter alleged that half of the RS members sitting in the Lok Sabha chamber were not permitted to participate in any manner. Condemning the alleged "brazen act" of the Union government, they claimed that it did not have the support to clear the bills.

The letter was signed by Congress' Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma, Jairam Ramesh and Abhishek Singhvi, Shiv Sena's Sanjay Raut, NCP's Praful Patel, LJD's MV Shreyams Kumar, AAP's Sanjay Singh, RJD's Manoj Jha, IUML's PV Abdul Wahab, TMC's Derek O'Brien and Nadimul Haque, Kerala Congress(M)'s Jose K Mani, TRS' K Keshava Rao and KR Suresh Reddy, JD(S) leader HD Deve Gowda, CPI(M) leader Elamaram Kareem, DMK's Tiruchi Silva, CPI's Binoy Viswam and SP's Ram Gopal Yadav. 

Read: 'Modi Govt Turning Farmers Into Slaves,' Says Rahul On Farm Bills, Poses Questions On MSP

Read: Centre Hikes MSP For 6 Rabi Crops Amid Farm Bill Row; PM Modi Says Move To Empower Farmers

Union Law Minister gives an explanation

Earlier in the day, Union Law & Justice Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad revealed that Harivansh Singh was ready to put for vote the opposition's motion to send the farm bills to a Select Committee. According to him, the voting could not take place as the opposition MPs did not go back to their seats despite the RS Deputy Chairperson requesting them 13 times in this regard. He added that the Harivansh Singh could have been physically assaulted by the MPs in the absence of the protection by the marshals. Prasad also noted that the government had a clear majority in the Upper House with 110 MPs in favour of the bills as against 72 votes of the opposition. 

Read: Rajya Sabha Ruckus: Six Videos Accessed Capturing 'unruly' Behaviour Of Suspended MPs