The Rajya Sabha on Sunday witnessed a heated discussion over the Farm Bills. The two agriculture Bills were tabled by Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar earlier in the day despite protests by farmers in different states. Many Opposition leaders, including Congress, other opposition parties held a sit-in protest inside the Rajya Sabha, even after the house was adjourned. 

As the Centre pushed for passage of the Farms Bills, many Opposition leaders flouted the COVID-19 protocols by ignoring the six-feet social distancing guidelines and entered the well of Rajya Sabha, climbed on the chairman’s podium to show the House rule book to Deputy Chairman Harivansh Narayan Singh.

Also Read | Rajya Sabha passes Farm Bills by voice vote amid Opposition protest

The two Farm Bills, Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020, and the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, was passed in the Rajya Sabha despite the massive uproar in the house and sloganeering by the Opposition MPs.

The house was briefly adjourned after MPs, including those from the TMC, Congress, and Left started sloganeering against the central government, creating chaos in the Rajya Sabha after the Deputy Chairman did not consider their demand for a division of votes on a resolution to send the two bills to a select committee.

Earlier, Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad demanded that reply to the debate on the two bills be postponed for Monday as the scheduled time for sitting on Sunday was over.

Derek O’Brien, who entered the well, said, “They have broken every rule of the Parliament. It was a historic day, in the worst sense of the word. They cut the Rajya Sabha TV feed so the country couldn’t see. They censored the RSTV,” quoted ANI. 

“The two Bills are historic and will bring a change in the lives of the farmers. The farmers will be able to freely trade their products anywhere in the country. I want to assure the farmers that these Bills are not related to Minimum Support Price,” the Agriculture Minister said in Rajya Sabha. 

A third bill, the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill, 2020, that seeks to remove commodities like cereals, pulses, oilseeds, onion, and potatoes from the list of essential commodities and will do away with the imposition of stock holding limits was to be moved in Rajya Sabha later on Sunday but the house was adjourned after the passage of two Farm Bills. 

The Farm Bills have led to protests since they were tabled and passed in the Lok Sabha, as Senior Shiromani Akali Dal leader Harsimrat Kaur Badal resigned from her position in the Union Cabinet on September 18 opposing the Bills.