The suspension of eight Members of Parliament (MPs) of Opposition parties from the Rajya Sabha on Monday, is an attack on democracy, said Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. The MPs were protesting against the Union government’s farm bills.
In the last six years, over 60,000 farmers had died by suicide and in 2019 alone, 10,281 farmers had ended their lives in the country, CM Pinarayi wrote on a Facebook post.
"Through the two bills, an attempt is being made by the central government to push the lives of farmers into eternal misery,” he said.
In the name of doing away with middlemen, the farmers will be forced to become slaves of corporate farming, pushing the country into destruction, the Chief Minister alleged.
The attempts to stifle the voices being raised against this injustice, even in Parliament, is against all democratic values, he said. The entire country needs to stand with farmers at this juncture as their problems should be the country's priority, the CM noted.
The MPs were suspended on Monday, a day after the Upper House witnessed unprecedented scenes of protest by opposition members during passage of the two bills, described as the biggest reform in agriculture by the government.
Among the suspended MPs are Derek O'Brien and Dola Sen of TMC, Rajeev Satav, Ripun Bora, Nasir Hussain of Congress, Sanjay Singh of AAP and KK Ragesh and E Kareem of CPI(M).
The Farmer's Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020 and the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill 2020 have already been passed by the Lok Sabha and will now go to the President for his assent before they are notified as laws.
The Opposition, led by the Congress in the Rajya Sabha, had criticised the bills, saying that they will not sign on the "death warrant" of farmers and demanded that they be sent to the Select Committee for scrutiny, while the ruling BJP had accused these parties of misleading the farmers.
(With PTI input)
Watch: Bengaluru sees massive protest rally by farmers against farm bills