Solidarity with the farmers: Com. A K Balan writes

Ours is a legislative assembly that has set an example for the country through model legislation and other proceedings. Beyond its legislative business, the Kerala Legislative Assembly has also become a forum reflecting the people's feelings and protests and emergencies facing the state or the country. When democracy and secularism have been challenged, the Kerala Assembly has responded in a way that set an example for the country. Considering urgent situations, the House has even met for a one-day special session to discuss an issue or pass a resolution. The 21st session, which met on Thursday, set another such example.

The special session met to pass a resolution asking the Centre to repeal the farm laws that triggered the heroic agitation farmers are waging in the national capital. Twelve members took part in the two-hour discussion on the resolution moved by the Chief Minister under Rule 118.

The resolution asked the central government to withdraw the laws at the root of the farmers' agitation: the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act 2020, the Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act 2020. Moving the resolution, the Chief Minister said legislatures are duty-bound to take seriously legislation that causes great anxiety and suspicion among the people it affects. At a time when falling prices of farm produce and farmers' suicides are becoming a social problem, the new legislation takes away even the protection farmers now have. The Centre itself must procure farm produce and ensure fair prices. The central government has given corporates the opportunity to take over the whole trade in farm produce. When the government withdraws from the procurement and distribution of food products, hoarding and black marketing will increase.

Food distribution and food security will be in danger. Agriculture is a subject in the State List in the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution. That the central government legislated on a subject directly affecting the states without detailed consultation is also a violation of federal principles. The Chief Minister pointed out in the resolution that these laws were passed without even being sent to Parliament's standing committees. If this law comes into force in Kerala, which has a smooth public distribution system, it will create a big crisis. That is the urgency of bringing the resolution, the Chief Minister said.

Although he agreed with the resolution, Congress leader K C Joseph, speaking for the opposition, moved three amendments. He said that rather than a resolution, legislation should be enacted against the central law. Criticising the Governor for refusing permission for the session the cabinet had recommended on December 23, he went a step further and even said that ministers had gone and fallen at the Governor's feet. The Chief Minister replied to K C Joseph's criticisms, quoting the relevant parts of the resolution to show that what the amendments asked for was already in its content. K C Joseph also wanted the resolution to refer to the Prime Minister's refusal to hold direct talks with the farmers. But the Chief Minister made clear that the Prime Minister is the head of the central government, and there was no need to name him in a resolution against the central government.

Under the Constitution, the Governor is bound to accept the cabinet's recommendation on summoning the Assembly; he has no discretion in this. So it was expected that he would accept the recommendation. But when the Governor refused permission, the cabinet recommended again that the House meet, reminding him that his action was not constitutionally correct, and the Governor accepted it. Ministers meeting the Governor and giving him the information he asks for is constitutional; calling it falling at his feet is not right. The Chief Minister reminded K C Joseph that he was not going into the history of how the office of Governor had been reduced to this.

It was the writer and Agriculture Minister Sunilkumar who met the Governor on the Chief Minister's instructions and explained the circumstances in which the cabinet had decided to convene the House. He took a friendly stand. The Congress tried to make out that it was the bigger opponent of the BJP by spreading the claim that the LDF government was soft on a Governor appointed by the central BJP government. The Chief Minister and the government took the approach of implementing the clear stand of the LDF and the government.

As the state declared solidarity with the farmers, the Chief Minister also explained what this government has done in agriculture. He pointed to the royalty introduced for paddy farmers, the country's first floor prices for vegetables, the Rs 8,900 crore food security scheme and the more than doubling of vegetable production. The Chief Minister also explained the increase in farmland, the higher farm pension, the farmers' welfare fund, the millet village scheme in Attappady and insurance for 27 crops. The government is examining bringing legislation against the central law, the Chief Minister said. Even the opposition was surprised when K C Joseph pressed his amendment although the Chief Minister had made clear that its essence was in the resolution. The amendment was then rejected by voice vote and the House passed the resolution unanimously. It was also notable that BJP member O Rajagopal, though he supported the farm laws, did not oppose the resolution. O Rajagopal's action was a slap in the face for the BJP leadership.

The 14th Assembly has set an example by holding four special sessions and passing five resolutions setting out Kerala's stand on matters of national importance: demonetisation, the ban on cattle slaughter, the constitutional amendment extending SC-ST reservation in the Lok Sabha and Assemblies by ten more years, the Citizenship Amendment Act, and now solidarity with the farmers' agitation. The solidarity the Kerala Assembly gave to the biggest agitation post-independence India has seen will find a place in history.