Siddaramaiah vows to fight against anti-farmer laws

Bengaluru: Leader of the opposition Siddaramaiah on Sunday stated that the Congress will take to the streets to fight the recent farm laws.

"These are the anti-peasant laws enacted by the Central and State governments. The jail bharo movement will also be held," he said.

Taking a dig at the State government over the anti cow slaughter Act, he said, "In this Act, buffalos are allowed to be killed. The import of beef should also be stopped. I urge the Union government to ban the slaughterhouse in the whole country and also ban imports from other countries. Isn't cow meat coming from Australia and New Zealand?"

Questioning the central government over the steep hike in fuel prices, the former CM said,"PM Modi does not talk about petrol and diesel prices. The price of gas has gone up to Rs 750. In 2012-13, crude oil prices in the world market were $ 110 per barrel. The UPA government was then selling petrol for Rs 60-65. Crude oil is now $ 42 per barrel but the fuel cost is shooting up," he added.

"BJP is giving false information on the APMC Act. With the amendments made in the Act, the government's motive is to help private companies. The purpose of the government is to destroy APMCs and stop paying the minimum support price. I complement my statement by quoting the finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman who said that it was time to dump the APMC. The government has now said it will not stop the minimum support price offered by the government, so why doesn't the government is willing to accept the farmers' demand that it be confirmed by law. This is also the demand of the Indian Farmers' Union, which is engaged in protests in Delhi," Siddaramaiah said. Lambasting the state government over the Land Reforms Act, he remarked that with the amendments being made, anyone can buy the land and the land-buying capitalists use the land for non-agricultural purposes.

He said that the former Chief Minister D. Devaraj Urs had made provisions that those who till should own the land, but now the state government wants only the 'haves to own the land'.

Under Siddaramaiah's tenure the income limit from non-agricultural sources to purchase farmland was increased from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 25 lakh. He pointed out that non farmers were not allowed to buy farmland.

The senior Congress leader spoke at the launch of a booklet which speaks against the five Acts passed by the government- APMC Amendment Act, Amendment of Karnataka Land Reform Act, Prohibition of murder on Sunday, Agricultural Price Guarantee and Agricultural Services Act and Amendment of Essential Material Act.

"The government is working to mislead the people. So the book released today has done a lot of work to inform the truth about many such issues," Siddaramaiah said.