Hyderabad: Demanding immediate repealing of the Central government’s new agricultural laws, hundreds of farmers under banners of different organizations on Monday staged a protest at Dharna Chowk. Farmers from various districts of the state alleged that the new farm laws will destroy the country’s agricultural sector.
Ever since the three laws were passed in Parliament in September, farmers have been protesting largely in the states of Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, and Chhattisgarh which have brought their own farm laws to negate the central acts. Telangana farmers too participated in the all-India protests, calling that these acts amount to ‘anti-farmer measures’.
Under the leadership of All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee (AIKSCC), the organisations which staged protest at Dharna Chowk called for the ‘Chalo Delhi’ on November 28. The protest was jointly organized by the National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM) and Rythu Swarajya Vedika (RSV) on Monday at Dharna Chowk.
Addressing the protest, Vissa Kiran Kumar, Co-Founder of RSV slammed the BJP-led government for bringing the ‘black laws’ and expressed fear that these legislations would destroy the farming community and would only benefit big corporate houses. Representatives of several farmers’ bodies of the state and social activists participated in the protest.
“We farmers are all united in the fight against the ‘anti-farmer’ laws, we are going to Delhi on November 28 for the agitation, said Vemulapalli Venkata Ramaiah, President of All India Kisan Mazdoor Sabha (AIKMS), at the protest.
The government has, however, asserted the new laws will free farmers from the clutches of middlemen and allow them to sell their produce anywhere they want at a remunerative price.
Apart from the central government’s laws, the farmer organizations also demanded necessary compensation to the farmers in Telangana, whose crops were washed away in torrential rains last month. They asked the Telangana government to buy all the crops at the age level and provide farmers with Minimum Support Price (MSP).