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Series of protests will be launched by TMC against ‘farm bills 2020’ today onwards

Ruling party in West Bengal, Trinamool Congress, is set to begin a series of protests against the passage of the contentious farm bills. It will hit the streets starting today in Kolkata. Parallel protests are currently going on outside the Parliament.

On Monday, Derek O’Brien and Dola Sen, two of the party’s senior Rajya Sabha members were suspended for a week for unruly behavior that took place as the upper house of the Parliament passed two controversial bills relating to the agriculture sector on Sunday.

Condemning the two bills, Chief Minister and party supremo Mamata Banerjee said that the TMC will launch a series of protests against the bills every day starting from Tuesday.

Banerjee further said that the party will stage continuous protests starting from Tuesday. On the same day, the party’s women wing will hold a dharna near Gandhi statue in Kolkata. The youth wing will stage a protest on Wednesday followed by farmers and labourers.

The minister of state for health in West Bengal, Chandrima Bhattacharya would lead the Tuesday’s protests in central Kolkata. The TMC chief also called on all parties to unitedly oppose the farm bills and assured her party’s support in this aspect.

Meanwhile, to protest 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, the Congress and the Left Front have also decided to hit the streets on 25th of September.

Eight suspended MPs list include two MPs from the TMC, three from Congress party, two from CPI(M)  and one is from Aam Aadmi Party as well.

The Union home ministry, in the Unlock 4 guidelines, had earlier said that political functions could be held with a ceiling of 100 people from September 21st. In this context, Mamta Banerjee asserted that because of the pandemic, there is a restriction on the number of people that can gather. Hence, she stated that TMC will stage the protest following protocols and not bring in a large number of people.

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Attack on federal structure- Opposition blames the government for misusing the Presidential powers

On Monday as the first day of the monsoon session was scheduled, opposition parties objected to the government’s attempts on “coercive federalism” and “misuse of Presidential powers on issuing ordinances” forcefully.

The MPs from the opposition parties, including a congress member and MPs from TMC objected to the government’s decision to do away with Question Hour and the issuing of ordinances during the lockdown period.

In the face of opposition, Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, decided to withdraw the Banking Regulation (Amendment) Bill. N K Premachandran of Revolutionary Socialist Party pointed out that the Bill was introduced in the House on March 3, but an ordinance related to it was promulgated on June 26.

N K Premachandran pointed out that normally an ordinance is promulgated only in extraordinary situation. He stated that when the government makes a legislative proposal, the long-term interest of society has to be taken into account. NKP further added that the FM brought the Bill without applying any legislative wisdom. He blamed the government for lack of seriousness in legislative process. He further argued that presidential powers had been taken for granted by the government.

Sitharaman stressed her point by saying that the ordinance was brought in as several cooperative banks were facing stress during the pandemic. She stated that what the government is bringing, after withdrawing that Bill (which came in the form of an ordinance), is essentially what the Bill of March 2020 had, together with a few things added such as giving Reserve Bank (of India) a chance to be able to restructure any distressed cooperative banks in case they are in severe distress.

Congress’s Gaurav Gogoi opposed the introduction of Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill. He said that it deregulates certain commodities, depriving state governments of the control. He said that this deprivation of this essential responsibility comes without any consultation with states. This infringement on state powers without any consultation renders the Bill ultra vires of federalism.

TMC’s Sougata Roy termed the action by GOI as coercive federalism by the Centre. He pointed out that states had the power to regulate stocks. He added that it was necessary for avoiding hoarding and black-marketing or seasonal shortages due to floods or droughts. This power was wholly within the reach of state government. He added that this power is being taken over by the Central Government, and that the powers of state governments to regulate have been circumscribed.

The move to introduce Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill was resisted by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor. He said that it violated basic tenets of federalism because agriculture falls in the state list.