Shabbir Ali Leads Congress Dharna Against Farm Laws At Kamareddy Collectorate

Kamareddy, January 11: Former Minister & ex-Leader of Opposition in Telangana Legislative Council Mohammed Ali Shabbir demanded that the BJP Government at the Centre repeal the anti-farmers laws to protect the interest of farming community in the country.
 
Addressing a massive dharna at Kamareddy District Collectorate on Monday, Shabbir Ali accused the BJP Government of for displaying adament attitude towards farmers by not considering their demands although their agitation entered 47th day today. "Lakhs of farmers are protesting on Delhi borders for the last one-and-a-half months despite severe coldwave and rain. Over 60 farmers died during the agitation which includes a few farmers who committed suicide due to the inhuman attitude of BJP Govt. Instead of understanding the gravity of the situation, Prime Minister Narender Modi has completely ignored the farmers' protest and tried to build a fake narrative that new laws were being supported by a majority of farmers. PM Modi must explain as to why his government was hesitant to give guarantee of Minimum Support Price (MSP) to the farmers," he said.
 
Shabbir Ali said that the BJP Government at the Centre brought new farm laws only to benefit a few corporates like Adanis and Ambanis. However, he said that the Congress party would never allow the government to hurt the interest of farmers under any circumstances.
 
He also accused the TRS Govt of pursuing anti-farmer policies in Telangana State. He accused Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao of mortgaging the interest of farmers by supporting the new farm laws. "CM KCR owes an explanation regarding the U-turn he took on farm laws. The TRS party first opposed the new laws and even participated in Bharat Bandh. However, CM KCR took a U-turn after he visited Delhi after entering into a secret pact with PM Modi. He went a step ahead by announcing scrapping of IKP and other procurement centres to stop buying agricultural produce from the farmers," he said.
 
Shabbir Ali said that the State Government's decision to do away with IKP and procurement centres would cripple the farmers as they would not be able to sell their produce at profitable rates. They will be forced to sell their produce at cheaper prices and incur huge losses, he feared.
 
He also ridiculed CM KCR's claims that the State Government suffered losses of Rs. 7,500 Crore due to procurement of agriculture produce. He said that the Chief Minister must release a White Paper with the list of sellers and buyers which would expose a huge multi-crore scam. He suspected that a few officials, in connivance with the TRS leaders, sold the agriculture produce to a few select contractors at cheaper cost to get commission while causing huge loss to the State's exchequer. 
 
The Congress leader said that the BJP came to power at the Centre in 2014 on the promise of implementing the recommendations of Swaminathan Commission. However, he said instead of ensuring that MSP be increased so it is at par with 1.5 times the cost of production, the BJP Govt completely removed the MSP through its new laws. 
 
Shabbir Ali also announced that he would take up Padayatra demanding execution of Package 21 & 22 of Pranahita Chevella project. (eom)