New farm laws will enslave farmers: Rahul Gandhi

Farmers express concerns over loss of markets in video-chat with Congress leader.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. File

Coinciding with the nationwide farmer’s agitation, former Congress President Rahul Gandhi issued a three-minute video chat with farmers discussing the

three farm Bills recently passed by Parliament .

Bharat Bandh updates: Protests against farm laws hit normal life in Punjab | Will the farm bills benefit farmers?

Mr. Gandhi held a video chat with 10 farmers from Haryana, Bihar and Maharashtra, discussing the new agricultural laws. The farmers expressed concerns that the laws will enable corporate houses to buy their produce below the Minimum Support Price rates. They also said the government should ensure any person buying produce below the MSP rate should be deemed illegal and should be made a punishable offence.

Explainer |

Why are the Agriculture Bills being opposed

The farmers also feared that the new laws will help the big business houses to buy their land and reduce them to farm workers. The farmers also said these laws are like the return of the East India Company, to which Mr. Gandhi quipped, “There was an East India Company, now there is a West India company.”

“These laws will have to be opposed for the future of India. A farmer’s voice has immense strength; it was the farmer’s voice that helped us win our freedom. And farmer’s protests will get us freedom again,” he said.

Watch | Why are parties boycotting the rest of the Rajya Sabha Monsoon session?

Earlier in the day, Mr Gandhi in a tweet had said the micro, small and medium scale industries (MSMEs) were destroyed by an erroneous GST and now new agricultural laws will enslave our farmers.