Farmer leader Pandher demands action against BJP MP Kangana for her farm laws statement

Chandigarh, Sep 25 (PTI) Farmer leader from Punjab Sarwan Singh Pandher sought action against BJP MP Kangana Ranaut on Wednesday for her purported remarks on three farm laws that were repealed in 2021.

After facing flak from rival political parties over her statement, the actor-turned-politician has said in a post on X that her views on the farm laws were personal and those do not represent her party's stand.

Pandher, who leads the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha, pointed out that Ranaut contested the Lok Sabha polls held earlier in the year on the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) ticket.

"If the BJP-led Centre has already repealed those laws and if its elected MP makes a statement on those laws, then action should be taken against her. Can anybody speak on policy matters and then say it was his or her personal view?" Pandher asked.

"The BJP has been exposed over this issue," he said.

The Congress on Tuesday shared on X an undated video of Ranaut, in which she is purportedly heard saying in Hindi: "The farm laws that were repealed should be brought back. I think this might get controversial. The laws in the farmers' interest should be brought back. Farmers should themselves demand this (to bring the laws back) so that there is no hindrance to their prosperity." Senior Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in Punjab Partap Singh Bajwa has lashed out at the BJP-led Centre, claiming that it is using Ranaut "as a mouthpiece to advocate the restoration of the contentious farm laws".

"The BJP is using Ranaut as a proxy to further its anti-farmer agenda. If the BJP government at the Centre does not stand behind the statements made by its Mandi MP, it must take decisive action against her," Bajwa said on Tuesday.

Ranaut has persistently targeted the farming community, while the BJP remains a silent spectator, he said. "This is no coincidence, it is a carefully-scripted strategy. The BJP is launching a veiled assault on farmers through her rhetoric," the Congress leader alleged.

The three laws -- the Farmer's Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Act and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act -- were repealed in November 2021.

The farmers' protest started at the fag-end of November 2020 and ended after Parliament repealed the three laws that had come into force in June 2020. PTI