From the day the farm ordinances were introduced to the time they were brought for ministerial comments, I kept raising farmers’ concern. But the government brought the bills without consulting farmers who had grave apprehensions about them. I kept saying that these should not be implemented unless farmers’ grievances were fully addressed. Even state governments had concerns. For months I tried to bring farmers’ issues to the government’s notice before deciding to resign.
We had demanded that the bills be sent to a select committee and the issues be addressed but these were passed by voice vote. We were told that all concerns would be looked into before the bills were passed. I was reaching out to farmers and fixing meetings with the prime minister, finance minister and the agriculture minister. Our party president even wrote to the government to maintain the minimum support price. Finally, when it was clear that no changes were made to the laws, the battle lines were…