‘Black Friday’ for real Farmers: P Changal Reddy

Thiruvananthapuram, 20 November(HS): ?Political farmers in New Delhi won while the real farmers have been put to a big loss,? said P Chengal Reddy, advisor to Confederation of Indian Farmers? Associations (CIFA) about the Centre?s decision to repeal the Agriculture Reforms Bill 2020.

Speaking to Hindustan Samachar, the farming leader said those who opposed the Bill were not at all farmers and they had intentions to destabilise a democratically elected Government, the Government led by Narendra Modi.

?I do not understand the reasons behind the move by the Prime Minister to repeal the Bills at this stage. He could have asked the Supreme Court to find out the legality and constitutionality of the Bills and corrected the deficiencies if any. The farmers had great hopes on these Bills,? said Reddy.

He also pointed out that the liberalisation steps set in motion in 1991 by late Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao resulted in the services and industries sector recording growth of 10 per cent. ?But the agriculture sector could not grow beyond the one per cent mark. This was because of the non-implementation of reforms in the farming sector. Prime Minister Modi brought in these reforms with which the agriculture sector would have made a quantum jump but forces which do not want to see a resurgent India were bent upon preventing the implementation of the Bill,? said Reddy.

He said he was hopeful of the Prime Minister making another important decision regarding these Bills because he has on-hand experience about the woes of the farming community.

R V Giri, president, CIFA, also expressed his sorrow over the move to put the Bills in the backburner. ?Politicians opposed to Modi did not want him to get the credit for saving Indian farmers. That?s the only reason behind their opposition to these Bills,? said Giri.