Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot on Friday suggested that President Ram Nath Kovind might be “under some compulsion” that had led him to deny Congress chief ministers an audience to discuss the new farm laws that have triggered a nationwide agitation.
“Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh sought an appointment from the President to submit his views on the situation arising out of the three farm laws but wasn’t given time,” Gehlot tweeted.
“Then all four Congress chief ministers sought time to place our views on the farm bills but the President must have been under some compulsion that he did not give time.”
It’s unusual for the President not to meet a chief minister on a formal request. Official engagements do continue even when the Centre is locked in a political confrontation with the states and rival parties, although Presidents rarely intervene in such situations.
Kovind has met Opposition delegations in the past, including one that requested him to deny his assent to the new farm bills.
Unlike some of his predecessors, for instance Pranab Mukherjee, Kovind has largely desisted from commenting on issues agitating the nation.
He has, for instance, avoided expressing his views on the protests against the new citizenship matrix, the miseries caused by the lockdown, or the police’s burning of the Hathras victim’s body, allegedly without her family’s consent.
Rashtrapati Bhavan had conveyed to Amarinder that the laws passed in Punjab (to nullify the effects of the three new national farm laws) were still pending with the governor and there was therefore no point meeting the President at this stage.
Amarinder had protested, arguing he had wanted to tell the President about the crisis developing over the Centre’s new farm laws and the possible problems arising out of the agitation and the suspension of goods and passenger trains in Punjab.
Gehlot tweeted: “The central government didn’t pay heed to the farmers’ demands, which have triggered a nationwide movement. Had conversations continued with the government in a democratic spirit, such a situation would not have developed.
“The common people too would not have been inconvenienced because of the road blockades. The Centre should withdraw the farm laws without delay and tender an apology for the misconduct with the farmers.”
The Congress, which wants the three farm laws repealed, has refused to scale down its stand.
“This is a battle for the livelihood of crores of people, not only the farmers,” Congress communications chief Randeep Surjewala said at a party event on Friday.
“Big grocery stores are being opened by corporate houses in every city and the jobs of small retailers will be finished by these people. The government has hatched a conspiracy to hand over agriculture trade to five-six big corporate players.
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other BJP leaders are lying on the MSP (minimum support price) and the mandi (wholesale market) system and are trying to trick the farmers into accepting this new regime that will ruin their lives.”
The farmers want a legal guarantee saying no one can buy their produce below the MSP, as is the rule at mandis. But the government has so far not conceded the demand while arguing that the farmers’ fears about the new farm laws forcing them to sell below the MSP are unfounded.
