Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) Working President and cabinet minister KT Rama Rao took to Twitter on Monday to speak against the Farm Bills passed by the Parliament recently and asked if it was truly a ‘watershed moment’ as Prime Minister Narendra Modi had claimed. The TRS had opposed the Bills in Parliament saying that they would do a 'lot of injustice' to the farm sector in the country.
"If the Agriculture Bill is truly a watershed moment, why is no farmer celebrating and why are NDA allies resigning?" KTR asked in an apparent reference to Modi's comment.
After the passage of the two Bills by the Rajya Sabha on Sunday, the Prime Minister tweeted that passing of the bill was a watershed moment in the history of Indian agriculture.
"A watershed moment in the history of Indian agriculture! Congratulations to our hardworking farmers on the passage of key bills in Parliament, which will ensure a complete transformation of the agriculture sector as well as empower crores of farmers," Modi had tweeted.
A watershed moment in the history of Indian agriculture! Congratulations to our hardworking farmers on the passage of key bills in Parliament, which will ensure a complete transformation of the agriculture sector as well as empower crores of farmers.
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) September 20, 2020
KTR, who is the Minister for Industry, Information Technology and Municipal Administration & Urban Development in Telangana took to Twitter, pointing out that when the Telangana Legislature passed the 'farmer-friendly' Revenue Bill last week, there was widespread jubilation and cheer among the farming community across the state. The Minister then pointed towards the lack of celebration by the farmer community over the Farm Bills.
When Telangana legislature passed the farmer friendly Revenue Bill last week, there was wide spread jubilation & cheer among farming community across the state
— KTR (@KTRTRS) September 21, 2020
If the #AgricultureBills2020 is truly a watershed moment, why is no farmer celebrating & why are NDA allies resigning?
Telangana Chief Minister and TRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao had earlier said that the Bills would benefit corporates and adversely impact the farmers.
"For public consumption, it was stated in the Bills that farmers could sell their produce anywhere in the country. But in reality, the Bills would enable the traders to go anywhere in the country to buy the produce. The Bills would also help the corporate lobby spread to all corners in the country and pave way for private traders," the Chief Minister said.
In another tweet, KTR slammed BJP MPs from Telangana for claiming that the Union government released Rs 7,000 crore to Telangana in the fight against COVID-19. The TRS leader said that the NDA government in response to a question in the Parliament, had said that they had released only Rs 290 crore to Telangana.
"What an absolute shameful distortion and misleading propaganda," KTR tweeted.