The Congress and 15 other Opposition parties have decided to boycott the President’s address to the joint session of Parliament on Friday in protest against the government’s “insensitive” handling of the farmers’ movement.

In a joint statement, the Opposition parties also accused the government of “orchestrating” the chaos and violence witnessed at some places during Tuesday’s tractor rally by the farmers in Delhi.

The boycott of the President’s address heralds a stormy Parliament session, and the Opposition has not ruled out boycotting the budget presentation too although the final decision has not been taken yet.

All the Opposition parties are agreed, however, that it cannot be business as usual in the House given the government’s treatment of the farmers.

If the government tries to clear the protest sites by force, one of the consequences could be a washed-out budget session.

Some in the Opposition, however, favour participating in the parliamentary proceedings to highlight the government’s failures and misdeeds on issues ranging from the economy and China to the farmer protest.

Senior Congress leaders P. Chidambaram and Mallikarjun Kharge on Thursday repeated the allegation that the Red Fort transgression during Tuesday’s Kisan Parade had been instigated by people close to the BJP.

They wondered why the police had stood and watched when a few hundred people climbed atop the fort and hoisted a flag, and said this inaction showed “the government’s connivance”.

Chidambaram and Kharge said the home minister must own responsibility for what happened and demanded a probe into the “link between the BJP and those involved in the Red Fort incident”.

The Opposition parties’ joint statement that announced the boycott of the presidential address said: “India’s farmers have been collectively fighting against the three farm laws arbitrarily imposed by the BJP government that threaten the future of Indian agriculture which sustains over 60 per cent of India’s population and the livelihood of crores of farmers, sharecroppers and farm labour.

“Lakhs of farmers have been agitating at the gates of Delhi braving biting cold and heavy rain for the last 64 days for their rights and justice. Over 155 farmers have lost their lives.

“The government remains unmoved and has responded with water cannons, tear gas and lathi-charge. Every effort has been made to discredit a legitimate mass movement through government-sponsored disinformation campaign. The protest and the agitation have been largely peaceful.

“Unfortunately, there were (a) few acts of violence on January 26, 2021... which was condemned universally and unequivocally. We also express our sadness over the injuries sustained by Delhi police personnel while handling the difficult situation. But we believe that an impartial investigation will reveal the central government’s nefarious role in orchestrating those events.”

The statement added: “The Prime Minister and the BJP government remain arrogant, adamant and undemocratic in their response. Shocked by this insensitivity of the government, we, the following Opposition political parties, reaffirming the collective demand for the repeal of the anti-farmer laws and in solidarity with the Indian farmers, have decided to boycott the President’s address to both the Houses of Parliament on Friday.”

The signatories were the Congress, Trinamul Congress, Nationalist Congress Party, DMK, Shiv Sena, CPM, CPI, National Conference, Samajwadi Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal, Indian Union Muslim League, RSP, People’s Democratic Party, MDMK, Kerala Congress (M) and the AIUDF.

The statement described the three farm laws as an assault on the rights of the states that violated the federal spirit of the Constitution.

“If not repealed, these laws will effectively dismantle the edifice of national food security that rests upon MSP (minimum support price for crops), government procurement and public distribution system (PDS). The farm bills were brought without any consultations with states and farmer unions and lacked national consensus,” it said.

“Parliamentary scrutiny was bypassed and the laws were pushed through muzzling the Opposition, in brazen violation of parliamentary rules, practices and conventions. The very constitutional validity of these laws remains in question.”