If it's watershed moment, why farmers not celebrating: KTR

Hyderabad, Sep 21 (IANS) Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) working president and cabinet minister K. T. Rama Rao on Monday differed with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's statement that the passage of Farm Bills in Parliament is a 'watershed moment' for the agriculture sector.

"If the agriculture Bill is truly a watershed moment, why is no farmer celebrating and why are NDA allies resigning?," Rama Rao asked in an apparent reference to Modi's comment.

After the passage of the two Bills by the Rajya Sabha on Sunday, the Prime Minister had described it as a watershed moment.

"A watershed moment in the history of Indian agriculture! Congratulations to our hardworking farmers on the passage of key bills in Parliament, which will ensure a complete transformation of the agriculture sector as well as empower crores of farmers," Modi had tweeted.

Rama Rao, who is the minister for industry, information technology, municipal administration and urban development, took to Twitter on Monday, disputing Modi's claim.

He pointed out that when the Telangana Legislature passed the 'farmer friendly' Revenue Bill last week, there was widespread jubilation and cheer among the farming community across the state.

The TRS opposed the Farm Bills in Parliament saying they would do a 'lot of injustice' to the farm sector in the country.

Telangana Chief Minister and TRS president K. Chandrasekhar Rao had said the Bills would benefit the corporates and adversely impact the farmers.

"For the public consumption, it was stated in the Bills that farmers could sell their produce anywhere in the country. But in reality, the Bills would enable the traders to go anywhere in the country to buy the produce. The Bills would also help the Corporate Lobby to spread to all corners in the country and pave way to the private traders," the Chief Minister said.

The BJP's key ally Shiromani Akali Dal last week quit the Narendra Modi government over the passage of the Farm Bills.

In another tweet, Rama Rao, who is son of the Chief Minister, slammed the BJP MPs from Telangana for claiming that the Centre released a staggering Rs 7,000 crore to Telangana in the fight against Covid-19.

The TRS leader said that the NDA government in response to a question answered that all they had released to Telangana was Rs 290 crore. "What an absolute shameful distortion & misleading propaganda," remarked KTR, as the minister is popularly known.