Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday termed the three farm Bills passed in Parliament as “a death sentence to our farmers”. Two of the three Bills were passed in Rajya Sabha amid ruckus that saw Opposition members protesting in the well of the House, the House rule book being torn and eight members being suspended by Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu.

The government and Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman Harivansh Singh have justified passing the farm bills on September 20 through a voice vote saying Opposition members were not in their seats when they asked for a division of votes. 

Gandhi, on Monday, shared a media report that showed otherwise. 

Singh claimed that the demand for division of votes was made when Opposition members were not in their seats. The Rajya Sabha TV footage however shows at least two of the three members who had called for the Bills to be sent to a select committee and sought amendments — CPM’s KK Ragesh and DMK’s Trichy Siva — were in their seats when they demanded a division of votes, the report noted.

“Their voice is crushed in Parliament and outside,” Gandhi tweeted.

“Here is proof that democracy in India is dead,” he added, referring to the report.

Three farm Bills — Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020, Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020 and Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill 2020 — were passed in Parliament during its Monsoon Session.

President Ram Nath Kovind on Sunday gave his assent to the Bills, thus they’ve now become laws.

Farmers, especially in Punjab, Haryana and Karnataka are protesting over the Bills.