New Delhi, July 30
Eight parties, including the Shiromani Akali Dal, the Left, BSP, RLP, NCP, Shiv Sena and NC on Friday wrote to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla demanding a joint parliamentary committee probe into the number of deaths during the farmers’ agitation and also sought Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Tomar’s apology for saying the “government had no knowledge of farmers’ deaths” during the nine-month-long Kisan Andolan.
“We urge you to form a Joint Parliamentary Committee led by an Opposition member to probe the entire issue and ascertain details of the total number of lives lost in the ongoing Kisan Andolan and suggest ways and means to rehabilitate the victim families. The JPC could also take feedback directly from farmers and their representatives about their reservations vis-a-vis the three agriculture laws and submit the same to the government for necessary action. We are confident that as custodian of the august house you will ensure that the insult meted out to farmers and their democratic protest is addressed. This will also send out a clear signal that the temple of democracy stands with the ‘annadaata’ and will not stomach the insult heaped on him,” says the letter to the Speaker written on Friday and signed, among others, by Akali Dal MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal, NCP’s Supriya Sule, BSP’s Danish Ali and NC’s Hasnain Masoodi.