Govt suspended MPs to silence Opposition; urge Prez to return farm bills to RS: Left parties

The Left parties on Monday alleged that the government was trying to silence the Opposition by suspending the MPs who questioned it on the farm bills, and called on the President to send the legislation back to the Rajya Sabha.

The Left parties on Monday alleged that the government was trying to silence the Opposition by suspending the MPs who questioned it on the farm bills, and called on the President to send the legislation back to the Rajya Sabha. In a joint press statement, the Communist Party of India (Marxist), Communist Party of India, Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist), Revolutionary Socialist Party and All India Forward Bloc said they will support the countrywide protest against the farm bills on September 25. "The Left parties strongly condemn the manner in which all parliamentary procedures and norms have been thrown to the winds by this BJP government for bulldozing legislations mortgaging Indian agriculture," the statement said. Accusing the government of "destruction of parliamentary democracy" and displaying "fascistic portends", it said, "If by suspending opposition MPs who demanded division and voting, the BJP government thinks it will silence the opposition, it shall not".

The parties also called upon the people of the country to "rise in protest" against such assaults on parliamentary democracy. "These legislations will destroy Indian agriculture and our farmers. This handover of the entire sector to agribusiness corporates will lead to the abolishing of minimum support price to the farmers, the complete destruction of the public distribution system, promote unscrupulous traders and giant corporations to hoard food, thus artificially creating a food scarcity, sending prices up astronomically. These legislations severely threaten India's food security," the statement said. The Left parties called upon all their units across the country to extend full support to the call given by the All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee for countrywide protests on September 25, demanding the withdrawal of these legislations.

"The Left parties call upon all their state units to draw programmes of protest actions at the state level in consultation with other political parties to force the central government to withdraw these legislations," it said. In a separate statement, the Politburo of the CPI(M) accused the government of bulldozing the ordinances on Indian agriculture. It said the legislation was passed after denying the MPs the opportunity to discuss and by refusing to have a division through a vote on these Bills in the Rajya Sabha. "This is unprecedented and tantamount to murder of democracy," it said.

"Every Member of Parliament has inalienable right to ask for a division of vote on any matter that comes before the parliament for approval. This right was trampled with utter contempt. "In a highly condemnable manner 8 RS MPs, who sought a division of vote, have been suspended. It is clear that the BJP/NDA did not have a majority in the Rajya Sabha with all the opposition parties arraigned against these legislations," the CPI(M) Politburo said. It further said, "These new laws are therefore illegitimate, illegal and the President of India must send back these legislations to the Rajya Sabha for reconsideration under Article 111 of the Indian Constitution". CPI general secretary D Raja also said all Opposition parties have urged the President to not sign the bill. "We want the bill to be further scrutinised and have urged the President not to sign it," said Raja.