Sonia Gandhi asks Congress-ruled states to overrule Centre’s farm laws

Congress President Sonia Gandhi, in a statement, on Monday asked the party-ruled states to pass a law that could overrule the Centre’s newly-formed farm laws that have sparked massive outrage among the farmers in the country.

Farmers have been protesting in many states, with Congress-ruled Punjab being the epicentre of protests, since the three farm Bills were passed in the Parliament during the Monsoon Session. Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, along with AICC general secretary and Punjab Affairs in-charge Harish Rawat, on Monday held a sit-in protest in Chandigarh against the new farm laws.

Also Read | ‘Death sentence to our farmers’: Rahul Gandhi on farm laws

Releasing a statement, the Congress said, “Hon’ble Congress President has advised the Congress-ruled states to explore the possibilities to pass laws in their states under Article 254(2) of the constitution which allows the state legislatures to pass a law to negate the anti-agriculture central laws encroaching upon state’s jurisdiction under the constitution.”

Also Read | Tractor set on fire at India Gate in Delhi amid farm law protests

The constitutional rule, mentioned in the Congress’ statement, allows a state legislature to enforce laws “repugnant to the parliament law”, if the President approves.

“This would enable the states to bypass the unacceptable anti-farmers’ provisions in the three draconian agricultural laws including the abolition of MSP (Minimum Support Price) and disruption of APMCs in Congress-ruled states. This would also alleviate the farmers from the grave injustice done by the Modi Government and BJP,” said the party.

According to a gazette notification, the President gave assent to three bills — the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020, and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill, 2020 on Sunday. 

Defending farmers for holding protests over the farm laws, the Punjab CM said they had the right to do so as “you are taking away their livelihood.”