Senior BJP leader and Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad lashed out at opposition parties over their reaction to the newly implemented farm laws on Monday, accusing them of ‘double standards’ and stating that the parties had earlier supported many provisions of the new laws.

Prasad stated that a section of the farmers were being manipulated by people with ‘vested interests’ and added that the Narendra Modi-run government was working on addressing the misgivings of the farmers regarding the reforms.

Prasad further praised farmer unions for not siding with political parties to cause a stir and said that opposition parties had sabotaged the protest in order to retain their existence after being repeatedly rejected by people across the country. 

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The Union Minister further cited the Congress party’s manifesto for the 2019 general election and stated that the grand old party had also promised to ‘repeal’ the APMC Act, adding that Rahul Gandhi had asked Congress-ruled states in 2013 to allow farmers to sell their produce directly.

Prasad said that NCP leader Sharad Pawar, who was the agriculture minister for the UPA government in 2013, had also requested states to amend the APMC act and had also warned them that the Centre would not provide financial support in the absence of the reforms.

He unloaded on opposition parties calling out their “shameful double standards,” and added that now that the Modi government was implementing similar laws all opposition parties were opposing them.

Farmers across India protesting the farm laws, which they claim to be ‘anti-farmer,’ have called for a nationwide general strike on Saturday, December 8.

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Opposition parties across India including the People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration, the Communist Party of India, Communist Party of India(Marxist), Communist Party of India(Marxist Leninist),  Revolutionary Socialist Party, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), Rashtriya Janata Dal, Socialist Party, the All India Forward Bloc, Shiv Sena and the Congress have all come out in support for the Bharat Bandh called by farmers on December 8.

The Rashtriya Loktantrik Party from Rajasthan and ally of the NDA has also expressed its support for the Bharat Bandh called by farmers.