Farmers may have been stopped, but their chosen representatives are in Parliament: CPI-M MP Amra Ram

New Delhi, Jun 28 (PTI) Farmers may have been stopped from entering Delhi during the 2020-21 protests, but their chosen representatives cannot be stopped from entering Parliament and their issues will be raised strongly in the 18th Lok Sabha, according to CPI-M MP Amra Ram.

The farmer leader, who has been with the All India Kisan Sabha and was also involved with the 2020-21 farmers' protests, said people have taught a lesson to the ruling BJP in the recent elections.

In an interview with PTI, Amra Ram, who won from Sikar in Rajasthan as a candidate backed by the INDIA bloc, said the agrarian crisis looming over the country and the farmers' protests, as well as issues like Agniveer scheme, led to the reduction of BJP's numbers in Lok Sabha.

Amra Ram, who chose a tractor to reach Parliament on his first day but was not allowed to take it inside, said he did so to send out a message that the government may have stopped farmers from entering the national capital, but they have elected and sent him to Parliament.

Asked about the Lok Sabha elections, Amra Ram said, "It is the result of the struggles that have been going on for the last 10 years against the BJP's poor governance, whether farmers, youths or labourers." "BJP was at 303 in 2019, and they are at 240 today. The seats that they have lost are in areas where the farmers who protested for 13 months came from - Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and also Maharashtra. Agniveer and farmer protests have taught BJP a lesson," he said.

"If they have not learnt a lesson yet, people will protest on streets and we will raise the issues in Parliament," Amra Ram said.

On choosing the tractor to reach Parliament, he said, "The only intention behind riding a tractor to Parliament was to tell the government that the farmers you were trying to stop have sent Amra Ram to Parliament, and he is coming on the same tractor which you did not allow in the national capital for 13 months." He went on to add: "Even now, this government's police said tractors cannot enter Delhi. A tractor is not a fighter jet or a tank that will blow up the Parliament. Big machines can come here, our prime minister uses cars that cost crores of rupees... Farmers and labourers, who are 65 per cent of this country's population, cannot come to the national capital?" he asked.

"They can't stop me anymore, because people have chosen me," he also said.

Raising serious concerns over what he called a looming agrarian crisis in the country, the CPI(M) MP said while the farmers are not getting proper price for their crops, consumers are paying multiple times more, and the situation is not helping anyone.

Coming down heavily on the NDA government, he accused it of trying to destroy agriculture to convert farmers into cheap labour for industries.

"The main problem is in intention and policy. The problem is with the government that wants the farmer to be forced to beg in front of big corporations to survive. This is the intention of the government," he alleged.

Stressing on the need for a special session of Parliament to discuss agrarian crisis, Amra Ram said the opposition will build pressure on the government for this.

"Majority population of this country is suffering due to the agrarian crisis. Not only farmers, labourers are also getting affected. There should be a special session to find out what the solution is," he said.

Asked about the unfulfilled demands made by the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), like legal guarantee for Minimum Support Price, compensation for those who lost their lives in the farmers protest and dismissing cases filed against them among others, he said the protest was suspended and not called off.

"Our protest was suspended, it was not called off. The SKM has kept organising protests, if needed we will do more," he said.

"Farmers' organisations are not political parties, but the majority voters are farmers," the CPI(M) MP added. PTI AO ZMN