Old Letter Used To Divert Attention From Farmer Protests: Pawar

Bharatiya Janata Party leaders called Pawar and Congress out for having “double standards”.

Leader of Nationalist Congress Party and former Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar issued a clarification on Tuesday, 8 December about an old letter -- in which he sought reforms and private participation in the agriculture sector -- used by the Bharatiya Janata Party to call him out for having “double standards”.

The veteran Maharashtra leader sought changes in the Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) Act as the then Agriculture Minister, and had written to the then chief ministers such ad Sheila Dikshit (Delhi) and Shivraj Chouhan (Madhya Pradesh) asking them to amend the act. This letter has been circulating online, and was used to call out Pawar by ruling BJP leaders, reported NDTV.

The NCP chief admitted to calling for reforms, but said the APMC Act should continue. He slammed the Centre for using the claims as a ploy to divert attention from the farmers’ nationwide protests against the contentious farm laws.

“I had said that APMC needs some reforms. APMC Act should continue but with reforms. There is no doubt that I had written the letter. But their three Acts do not even mention APMC. They are just trying to divert the attention. No need to give importance,” the NCP chief said on Tuesday, reported NDTV.

Pawar announced that five-six leaders from different opposition parties, including himself, will meet with President Ram Nath Kovind at 5 pm on 9 December and take a collective stand against the farm laws.

Pawar’s party NCP is one amongst many Opposition parties who have backed the farmers’ agitating against the newly-passed farmers’ laws in September, and have also extended their support to the nationwide ‘Bharat Bandh’ on 8 December organised by the farmers asking the Modi government to repeal the three laws -- Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act.

BJP Politicians React To Pawar’s Letter

Amid the controversy, at a press conference yesterday, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Chouhan read portions of Pawar’s 2001 letter, accusing him of having double standards, reported NDTV.

"There is a need to amend APMC Act on lines of model APMC Act to encourage private sector investment in marketing, infrastructure and providing alternate competitive marketing channels in the overall interest of farmers, consumers and agriculture trade,” Chouhan read aloud.

Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said: "Sharad Pawar is also opposing the new farm laws. But when he was agriculture minister, he wrote to all Chief Ministers for 'private sector participation' in market infrastructure."

"The Opposition parties are opposing the Narendra Modi government for the sake of opposition, forgetting their own work in the past. In its 2019 poll manifesto, Congress promised to repeal the APMC Act and make trade of agriculture produce, including export, free from all restrictions," said Prasad, as quoted by NDTV.

Pawar maintains that the Centre’s agricultural laws were passed in the Parliament in haste, and that if the deadlock is not resolved, more farmers will join the protests, reported Times Now.