Bhopal: Congress Rajya Sabha MP Digvijaya Singh on Monday took part in the ‘Bharat bandh’ called by groups protesting against the Centre’s farm laws and said these legislations take away the right to approach court for grievance redressal.
Talking to protesting farmers during the shutdown here, Singh said the right to move court was available even when Gandhiji was leading the Champaran movement against the British, but the three agri marketing laws passed by the Centre compelled a farmer to approach the sub divisional magistrate rather than the judiciary.
“As per these three new laws, if the purchaser of the farm produce refuses to pay, the cultivator will have to go to the SDM. This amounts to snatching away our fundamental rights. And that is why we oppose it, he said.
He said the BJP manifesto never mentioned anything about the farm laws and these were brought in without consultations with stakeholders in the sector.
The Narendra Modi government, through these laws, was working towards demolishing the mandi system and handing it over to the private sector, Singh alleged.