NEW DELHI, Dec 31: The 140-member Kerala Assembly on Thursday at a special session “unanimously” adopted a resolution demanding the central government roll back the three contentious farm laws. The lone BJP member in the House, O Rajagopal preferred not to oppose the move when the speaker took voice in favour of the motion moved by the chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan, though while participating in the debate on the motion he did speak in favour of certain provisions in the three farm laws.
When asked by media persons after the session if he supported the motion since he did not oppose the voice vote, Rajagopal replied in the affirmative.
“I supported the substance of the resolution in accordance with the democratic spirit, but I had differences of opinion with certain words used in the resolution, which I pointed out during my speech,” said Rajagopal, the MLA from Nemom.
When reporters pointed out the conflict of interest he faced as a BJP MLA backing a resolution which demands the repeal of the farm laws when the Narendra Modi government was opposed to it, he replied vaguely, “There would be no issues. In a democratic system, some compromises will have to be made,” he said.
He said he did not believe that his stand created a problem for the BJP. “I interpret it as democratic spirit,” he said.
In his speech in the Assembly, Mr. Rajagopal said the laws were designed to protect the farmers. “They avoided middlemen and commission agents and enabled farmers to sell their produce wherever they chose to. Those who oppose the laws were against the farmers,” Mr. Rajagopal said. He also expressed the hope that the discussion in the Assembly would contribute to fruitful discussions for resolving the dispute.
The entire Opposition, Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF), had joined the ruling CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front in supporting the resolution
The Chief Minister, in his address to the Assembly, said the solution to middlemen cheating farmers is decentralisation of the storage system, not corporatisation. “The Centre wants to corporatise the system. Farmers are agitating because of livelihood issues. The Government of India has the responsibility to fully engage in talks with them. Instead of asking the farmers to end their protest, the Centre must come forward and try to allay their concerns through talks,” Vijayan said.
(Manas Dasgupta)