Azad meets President Kovind, urges him not to sign farm bills

Ghulam Nabi Azad, senior Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, met President Ram Nath Kovind on Wednesday evening over the manner in which the farm bills were passed in Parliament. About 16 Opposition parties have submitted a memorandum to the President on the issue. Speaking to the media, Azad said that he has told the President that the bills were passed unconstitutionally. President Kovind has been requested not to approve these bills and send them back to the government. Azad said that the government did not send the farm bills to the Standing Committee, which is unfortunate. Previously, it was decided that leaders of five Opposition parties — Congress, TMC, Samajwadi Party, TRS and DMK — will meet the President to raise the issue, but due to Covid-19 safety protocols, the parties decided to submit the memorandum through Azad.

 Earlier on Sunday, there was a lot of uproar in the Rajya Sabha regarding the farm bills. Some Opposition MPs charged the den of the House, broke the Speaker’s microphone, torn the rulebook, tore the Bills and shouted slogans.

 Later, Chairman M. Venkaiah Naidu suspended eight MPs, including TMC MP Derek O’Brien, Aam Aadmi Party’s Sanjay Singh, for the entire session. These MPs then staged a sit-in protest inside the Parliament complex. 

 MPs from various Opposition parties staged a silent protest on Wednesday in the Parliament House complex over the farm bills. The protesting MPs had placards in their hands, on which slogans like “Save the farmers, Save the workers, Save Democracy” were written.

 During the protest, Opposition MPs marched from the statue of Mahatma Gandhi to the statue of Bhimrao Ambedkar in the Parliament House complex. They queued for a while in front of the Mahatma’s statue. Members of Congress, Trinamool Congress, CPI, CPI(M), DMK, Rashtriya Janata Dal, Aam Aadmi Party, Samajwadi Party and Nationalist Congress Party participated in the protests. 

Recently, Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal met the President and requested that he should not sign the farm bills, which allegedly have been passed forcibly in the Rajya Sabha. Not only this, the leaders of various parties including Congress, Left parties, NCP, DMK, SP, Trinamool Congress and RJD have appealed to the President not to sign these bills. Leaders of Opposition parties allege that the manner in which the government has pushed forward its agenda is not appropriate.