Senior Congress leader and former Rajya Sabha member Ghulam Nabi Azad on Friday welcomed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcement to repeal the three farm laws, adding that many lives could have been saved, had the decision been made early.“It would have been better, had the government rolled them back in time. All political parties unanimously opposed these bills and demanded they be rolled back. When I was leader of opposition, I had said that we make laws for people, but if people don’t want a law, then it serves no purpose. I wish the PM and BJP-led NDA government had taken this decision one-and-a-half years ago because many lives that were lost in dharnas in winters and summers, could have been saved,” he said.“Had it been done earlier, the Parliament would also have maintained its ‘maan smaan’ (sanctity) and these lives would not have been lost,” he added.“At the same time, we can’t condemn this decision and we welcome it but with a heavy heart,” he said.
“Ensuing elections obviously played a role in the repeal of these farm laws…I need not tell that. I would say that elections only played the role but ultimately government has accepted to withdraw these bills,” he responded to a query.He said that it should not be viewed as victory or defeat.“We always say that government should not make it an issue of prestige. The will of the people is supreme. A bill was also rolled back during Rajiv Gandhi’s tenure but the demand of repealing farm laws was not of a particular religion or region. It is good that the BJP government has rolled these back,” he said.Azad also downplayed his removal from the party’s disciplinary committee. AICC president Sonia Gandhi on Friday dropped him from the disciplinary panel. Many believe that Azad’s removal from the panel was the fallout of the resignation letter sent by 20 J&KPCC leaders to Sonia Gandhi. All the 20 leaders were Azad loyalists in the faction-ridden J&K PCC.When asked whether party high command wants to “discipline” those who want a change within the Congress, Azad said, “Well, I have been in the disciplinary panel for quite a long time. I remained in it for five years during Rajiv Gandhi’s tenure around 36 years ago. And I was in this committee also for over a decade. This isn’t some committee, which meets every day. It meets once in two years or once a year. I think for the last one-and-a-half years, there was no meeting (of this panel). So, this is (his removal) not something big.”When asked to react to BJP’s promise of having uniform civil code in the country, Azad said that such issues should not be discussed at the time of elections.
“Well let’s not discuss all these issues at the time of elections, which are going to be held in the next two months. We should not raise such issues, which divide the nation and government should also neither think nor do any such thing that divides the nation,” he said.
