Ghulam Nabi Azad, leader of opposition in Rajya Sabha, announced that the opposition will boycott the proceedings till the suspension of eight members is revoked. Many opposition parties led by the Congress staged walkouts from the RS.
Eight opposition MPs, who were suspended from the Parliament after unruly scenes amid passage of the contested agricultural bills, had held an overnight sit-in in the premises of the Parliament. The dharna is still ongoing, with TMC MP Derek O'Brien announcing that "that this is an indefinite protest". Earlier, the government had moved a motion seeking the suspension of O'Brien, Sanjay Singh (AAP), Rajeev Satav (Congress), K.K. Ragesh (CPI-M), Syed Nazir Hussain (Congress), Ripun Boren (Congress), Dola Sen (TMC) and Elamaram Kareem (CPI-M). The motion was adopted by voice vote amid protests.
Speaking after the zero hour, Azad also demanded that the government brings a bill which should ensure private players don't procure food grains below the minimum support price (MSP) fixed by the government. He also asked the government that the MSP should be fixed from time to time as the C2 Swaminathan formula.
A resolution hitting out at the three farm bills—the Farmer's Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill, 2020—was also passed at the meeting. The opposition parties had alleged in the Parliament the new laws will undermine the safety net provided to the farmers by the MSP system and will lead to their exploitation by big companies. They alleged that the Centre brought in the legislations without consulting the states under whose domain agriculture and mandis fall.
