The Congress on Saturday threatened a mass movement against three ordinances the Narendra Modi government had introduced on June 5, vowing to defeat the “conspiracy to hand over the farm sector to crony capitalists”.

While the Opposition parties will put up a joint resistance in Parliament from Monday, the Congress has decided to support the agitating farmers and follow it up with a nationwide movement led by Rahul Gandhi if the government doesn’t withdraw the ordinances.

The party said the three ordinances would destroy farmers and the millions of others who depend on the agriculture sector. Farmers in Haryana and Punjab have already begun protests.

“The reality of the Centre’s draconian move is beginning to sink in. This is not a partisan issue. This is about the livelihood of 60 per cent of India’s population,” Congress communications chief Randeep Surjewala said.

“We appeal to every sensible Indian to rise against this sinister conspiracy,” he added.

A committee Sonia Gandhi had formed to examine the ordinances has concluded that the sole intention behind them is to facilitate the capture of the farm sector by a handful of big corporate houses.

The committee included P. Chidambaram, Digvijaya Singh, Jairam Ramesh, Amar Singh and Gaurav Gogoi. The ordinances are:

⚫ The Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Ordinance, which promises barrier-free trade of farmers’ produce outside the markets by replacing the Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) Act. It allows electronic trading and prevents states from levying fees or cess.

⚫ The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Ordinance, 2020. This provides for a farming agreement prior to the production or rearing of any farm produce, aimed at facilitating sale of produce to sponsors.

⚫ The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Ordinance, 2020, which amends the Essential Commodities Act, 1955. This ordinance seeks to liberalise the regulatory system, primarily to remove the stock limit with conditions.

Surjewala described all three as “black laws”.

“Modi became Prime Minister promising to double the farmers’ income and has now hatched a conspiracy to force a corporate takeover of agriculture,” he said.

“He tried this in his first term as well by bringing in an ordinance to kill the Land Acquisition Act. But the Congress, led by Rahul Gandhi, defeated that ploy. We will defeat his latest designs as well. We will not allow the poor farmers to get trapped by the lure of contract farming, which will ultimately lead to (their) destruction.”

Surjewala explained: “Scrapping the APMC Act will destroy the procurement system. The farmers will neither be assured of the market price nor (of the) minimum support price (MSP). Bihar is an example where the mandi system was abolished and now the middlemen exploit farmers to earn enormous profits.

“Modiji says farmers will now sell (their) produce anywhere at a higher price. This is a lie. The farmer was free to sell his produce anywhere earlier as well.

“The reality is that 86 per cent farmers own less than five acres of land. The average ownership is only two acres. They don’t have the wherewithal to bring their produce anywhere except the nearest mandi. The abolition of the mandi system will make them vulnerable. The millions who work in the mandis will be jobless.”

Surjewala continued: “The states will also lose revenue if they are not allowed to collect the market fee. In the last wheat season, Punjab earned Rs 736 crore from market fee and a similar amount through the rural development fund. Experts believe the government wants to stop procuring farm produce at MSP, which will save around Rs 1 lakh crore.”