The protesting farmers on Thursday claimed vindication of their stand that the new farm laws were pro-corporate rather than pro-farmer after food minister Piyush Goyal said the bills had been enacted to encourage trade in food.

“The government’s agenda is out in the open now. This is the first time the government has admitted that these laws are for trade and commerce,” Bharatiya Kisan Union president Balbir Singh Rajewal told reporters at the Singhu border.

Goyal’s comment had come at a news conference, held jointly with agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar, where he tried to answer the charge that the new farm laws intruded on a state subject and were therefore unconstitutional.

“On the law itself, some arguments were sought to be made that the law could not have been enacted by the Centre. Very categorically, none of the laws is in the state list,” Goyal said.

“They are part of the concurrent list and trade is what is being sought to be encouraged by these laws. Therefore there should be absolutely no doubt in anybody’s mind that the Centre has the power to enact laws under the concurrent list for trade, particularly in foodstuffs, which has been very elaborately defined in the concurrent list.”

Goyal added: “And there are several Supreme Court orders which have further elaborated on this subject, and therefore the Centre is very competent to enact these laws.”

The farmer union leaders were quick to latch on to Goyal’s statement, having already opened a front against corporate groups who they think would benefit from the three new laws.

“This is an admission,” Rajewal said. Another farmer leader, Darshan Pal, said: “We had never asked for privatisation of agriculture.”

A third farmer leader, Buta Singh, dismissed as “crocodile tears” the government’s expressions of concern for the farmers protesting amid the pandemic and the cold.

“What does the government lose if it repeals these bills when it claims to be worried about our welfare? It’s clear the farmers don’t want these laws,” he said.

Farmer leaders described the two ministers’ news conference as a propaganda effort and reaffirmed they would continue with their agitation.

The farmers are also upset at the continuing vilification of their agitation by government members and supporters. On Wednesday, Union minister Raosaheb Danve alleged the protests were being fuelled by Pakistan and China.

“One of our sons died in Kashmir on the border. His father is here, participating in the protests. Where is the minister?” Rajewal said.

Goyal and Tomar, however, were careful not to criticise the farmers or allege that they were being instigated. Their stock reply to the question whether the farmers were being incited was that this was for the media to investigate.

The ministers’ news conference seemed mainly an attempt to project the government as being reasonable and open to further negotiations. Tomar urged the farmer leaders to decide on a date for negotiations.

However, asked whether the government was open to repealing the new farm laws, he replied: “No law is entirely bad; we are ready to look into their apprehensions with an open mind.”

Tomar was similarly evasive when asked whether the farmers’ demand for a law guaranteeing a minimum support price (MSP) would be accepted.

“These new laws have nothing to do with MSP. The MSP will continue, so there is no cause for worry,” he said.

SC lawyers

The Supreme Court Bar Association on Thursday condemned the use of “brute force” on the protesting farmers and quoted a statement variously attributed to Edmund Burke, Voltaire and others: “I may completely disagree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”

The protesters had faced batons, tear gas and water cannons apart from barbed wire and barricades during their march to Delhi.

In a statement, association honorary secretary Rohit Pandey urged the government to uphold and protect the constitutional rights of all citizens to protest peacefully.