Farmers protesting at Delhi’s borders will return home if the government comes up with a law to guarantee purchase of their crops at an administered price or MSP, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) said in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday.
The SAD had quit the NDA over the three contentious farm laws, ending a nearly three-decade-long alliance.
Participating in the discussion on the Budget, SAD MP Naresh Gujral said the farmers are on the streets because they feel the market will be snatched from them. Procurement of crops such as wheat and paddy by government agencies on MSP provides a market at the doorstep of farmers, he said, adding the new laws provide for private mandis to come in. “Who is procuring at MSP? Only state agencies, not private procurers,” he said, adding that farmers want MSP to be enshrined in the law. The PM has promised that MSP will stay but what is stopping the government from including it in the law, Gujral asked.
