Farm Laws And Farmers Agitation : Sharad Pawar To Meet President Ram Nath Kovind On December 9

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NCP chief and Sharad Pawar is scheduled to meet President Ram Nath Kovind on December 9 over the ongoing farmers’ protest against the new agrarian laws, the party said in Mumbai .

NCP spokesperson Mahesh Tapase said the former Union agriculture minister will apprise Kovind of the situation in the country in the backdrop of the protest.

Pawar will be accompanied by Communist Party of India-Marxist leader Sitaram Yechury, Communist Party of India leader D Raja and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam MP T R Baalu.

They will meet Kovind at 5 pm on Wednesday, NCP sources said.

The NCP had joined other opposition parties in extending support to the ‘Bharat Bandh’ called on December 8 by farmer unions, which have been protesting on Delhi’s borders since November 26 demanding repeal of the Centre’s new agri-marketing laws.

Pawar asked the Centre to take serious cognisance of the ongoing farmers’ protest and said if the deadlock continues, the agitation will not be limited to Delhi and people from across the country will stand by the protesting cultivators.

Talking to reporters in Mumbai, Pawar said when the farmers are protesting on streets, it should be taken seriously.

“But, unfortunately, that is not happening,” the former Union agriculture minister said. “I hope wisdom dawns on the government and it takes cognisance to resolve the issue.

“If this stalemate continues, the protest will not be limited to Delhi, but people from nook and corner of the country will stand by the protesting farmers,” he said.

Pawar said farmers from Punjab and Haryana contribute the most to the country’s agriculture and food supply.

“Farmers from these states not just fill our stomach but are also major contributors to India’s supply of food grains, especially rice and wheat, to more than a dozen countries,” he said.

Pawar said when the three farm bills were introduced in Parliament, all parties, except the Bharatiya Janata Party, had said the bills should not be passed in a hurried manner.

The parties had sought a debate on the bills and demanded they be sent to the joint select committee. “But, the government did not listen, and now they will have to bear the consequences,” he said.