Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh will on Monday hold a sit-in against the contentious farm laws that were approved by the President. Farmers in Punjab are protesting against the bill, while Singh has been vocal in his criticism against the legislation.
Singh will hold the protest at the Khatkar Kalan, which is also the ancestral village of freedom fighter Bhagat Singh. Opposition parties including Congress, SAD, TMC and others have opposed the bill which was passed by the Parliament.
The bills – Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020, Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill- led to a national bandh last week where protestors and farmers block rail tracks and highways.
President Ram Nath Kovind gave nod to the bill, despite the opposition requesting him to return the bill for discussion.
Captain Amarinder Singh said that Punjab will try to amend laws to protect farmers from the controversial laws.
“We are already consulting with legal and agricultural experts, and all those impacted by the central government’s calamitous legislations, to decide on the future course of action,” Amarinder Singh said in a statement.
Farmers in Punjab continued their rail roko agitation at several places, which started last week. Earlier, farmers had decided to block trains from September 24 to 26.
Amarinder Singh had earlier said that the pain of protesting farmers will reach the Central government and it will step back from “destroying the farm sector with such ruthless disregard for the farming community”.
The BJP-led Union government had, “with its ill-conceived and unconstitutional farm laws, pushed the farmers to the brink, forcing them to come out on the roads and endanger their lives amid the Covid-19 pandemic”, he had said.
The opposition party- Shiromani Akali Dal had officially broken its ties with the BJP. SAD leader Harsimrat Kaur Badal also resigned from the Union cabinet in protest against the bill.
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