Lucknow: Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Friday lashed out at the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over the new farm laws and accused it of extending benefits to a handful of people at the cost of poor farmers.
Questioning the need for bringing the new laws, Yadav attacked the BJP for “bringing black laws for the farmers, laws which will benefit some people but not the common farmer and where the control of the market will go in the hands of a few".
He alleged that the control on crops and its by-products will also be in the hands of other people because of these farm laws.
“What kind of decision is this? Poor farmers be finished and a handful of people are benefitted,” the SP president charged.
Yadav, who was present during the filing of nomination papers of his party nominees for the biennial legislative council polls Ahmed Hasan and Rajendra Chaudhary, also exuded confidence over their victories.
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Holding that the next 2022 Assembly elections in the state will be of a very different kind, he claimed that the people of UP especially poor farmers, small traders, shopkeepers, youth, women all are waiting for an opportunity to remove the BJP from power.
“During their tenure, people of all sections of society, including the farmers are unhappy. I have often said that the government which makes people unhappy, is uprooted by people when the time comes,” he told reporters.
Enacted in September 2020, the government has presented the new laws as major farm reforms aimed at increasing farmers' income, but the protesting farmers have raised concerns that these legislations would weaken the minimum support price (MSP) and "mandi" (wholesale market) systems and leave them at the mercy of big corporations.
The government has maintained that these apprehensions are misplaced and has ruled out a repeal of the laws.
PTI
