New Delhi: After the Supreme Court reprimanded the government on its handling of the farmers’ agitation, the farmers today demanded the resignation of Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar “on moral grounds”.
The Supreme Court which heard today a clutch of petitions, hinted at staying the implementation of the three farm laws and said it had given a “long rope” to the government. “We don’t see why there should be an insistence that the laws must be implemented at any cost,” the court observed. To a submission by the Attorney General KK Venugopal that there were precedence that the court cannot stay the law, the Chief Justice of India, Justice SA Bobde, referred to a three-judge bench order that stayed the implementation of 2018 Maharashtra law granting reservation to Marathas in education and job.
When the Attorney General pleaded that the court should not pass its order in a “hurry” today, the CJI told him: “…Don’t lecture us on patience. We will decide when to pass the order. We might pass in part today and in part tomorrow.” The CJI expressed his disappointment at the way the farmers’ protests and farm laws were being handled by the government and said, “we don’t know what consultative process you followed before the laws…What is going on? States are rebelling against your laws.”
The three-judge bench comprising Chief Justice Bobde, Justice AS Bopanna and Justice V Ramasubramanian, was hearing the petitions including those filed by the Rashtriya Janata Dal’s Member of Parliament, Manoj Jha, and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam MP, Tiruchi Siva, who had challenged the constitutional validity of the three farm laws that the farmers’ bodies want the government to revoke. The apex court went on to state: “We want an amicable solution for the problem. That is why we asked you last time, why don’t you keep the laws on hold. But you are keeping asking for time. If you have some sense of responsibility, and if you say you will withhold the implementation of laws, we will form committee to decide. We don’t see why there should be an insistence that the laws must be implemented at any cost.”
Terming the developments in the court as a “slap on the face of the government,” the farmers’ unions said now they would wait for the Supreme Court order before taking any decision. However, chalking out a detailed programme, the Bharatiya Kisan Union, which is one of the forty constituents of the protesting Sanyukta Kisan Morcha, stated that the farmers will now burn copies of the agri bills in every village on January 13, observe national women farmers’ day on January 18, and then march to the the Governor’s House in Lucknow on January 23 to press for their demand that the Uttar Pradesh Government should declare that the price of sugar cane will be Rs. 450. The farmers will display black flags on their tractors till the state government concede their demand. On January 26, the farmers will also appoint district in-charge in every district to oversee the preparations in case their protests are prolonged.
– global bihari bureau
