Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar on Tuesday criticized the Centre for barring state governments and not counseling them on bringing the three new contentious farm laws, which has set off protests by farmers for over a month. The passing of the laws by the parliament has incited protests from a huge number of farmers who have camped on the borders of the national capital since November 26.

In a stinging comment, the NCP supremo said that the agricultural sector of the nation cannot be run sitting in Delhi.  Pawar likewise countered the charges by Union agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar, who expressed on Monday that former prime minister  Manmohan Singh and the then agriculture minister Sharad Pawar had considered drastic farm changes all through the tenure of the UPA regime. However, they could not implement them because of “political pressure”. Tomar had furthermore stated that the current government would not take any decisions adverse to the poor and farmers. The minister was addressing representatives of 11 farmers associations from Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Haryana, Maharashtra, Jammu, and Kashmir who had come to discuss and offer support for the three farm-laws.

Targeting the arrogance posed by the central government, while introducing the three farm-laws, Pawar put forth rhetoric stating, “By what means can a government say in a democracy that it would not tune in or it would not change its line?” He also added that had the centre consulted the state governments and taken them in certainty, then such a circumstance would not have emerged in the protests against the Farm-laws.

The NCP chief, whose party is one-third stake-holder in the Maharashtra government, has additionally alleged that the welfare of farmers is not a priority for the current central government.

Suggesting that the agitation is purely a non-political farmers’ movement, Mr. Pawar said from the very first day that the farmers have made it clear that they do not want to associate this movement with any political outfit. Pawar had also recently met the general secretary of the CPIM and had stated that the non-BJP parties are awaiting the outcome of the December 30 meeting between the farmers and the GOI. He added that the Centre managed to pass the bills only because of its strength in the Parliament and using the bare minimum quorum due to the Covid19. “In politics and democracy, dialogue should take place,” Pawar said.

Sharad Pawar also asked the Centre to take the farmers’ agitation very seriously, adding that it was unfair to blame Opposition parties for the protests. Pawar also said that Opposition parties would decide on future action if the Centre failed to address the farmers’ concerns during the next round of talks on Wednesday.