Amend State Laws To Shield Farmers From Centre's Attack: Amarinder Singh

Punjab will see whether it can amend state laws to protect farmers from any fallout of the centre's move to pass three controversial agriculture bills, Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh said on Sunday.

"We are already consulting with legal and agricultural experts, and all those impacted by the central government's calamitous legislations, to decide on the future course of action," Amarinder Singh said in a statement.

All the three controversial farm bills that cost the ruling BJP its alliance with the Shiromani Akali Dal became laws on Sunday with the signature of President Ram Nath Kovind.

The Chief Minister said he will sit on protest on Monday at Khatkar Kalan, the ancestral village of freedom fighter Shaheed Bhagat Singh, on his birth anniversary. This will be Amarinder Singh's first public protest against the farm bills.

Amarinder Singh said it was unfortunate that President Kovind signed the three "unconstitutional and anti-farmer bills without giving the congress and other opposition parties the opportunity to put their concerns before parliament."

"The President's assent comes as a big blow to farmers, who are out on the roads protesting against the centre's assault on their interests," Amarinder Singh said.

"Implementation of these dangerous new laws in their current form would destroy Punjab's agriculture - the lifeline of its economy," said Amarinder Singh, adding the "very livelihood of farmers was at stake due to these legislations, which the government had succeeded in imposing on the states and the farming community by brute majority."

The Shiromani Akali Dal, the oldest ally of the BJP, on Saturday quit the ruling party's National Democratic Alliance (NDA) after sharp differences over the three controversial farm sector bills.

With this, the SAD became the third major NDA member to pull out of the grouping after the Shiv Sena and the Telugu Desam Party (TDP).

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government has defended the bills as reforms to help rid India's vast agriculture sector of antiquated laws and allow farmers to sell to institutional buyers and big retailers such as Walmart.