Chidambaram seeks opposition unity to beat two farm bills in Upper house

Calls the bills anti-farmer, says they don't enforce private purchasers to pay at least MSP to the cultivator

Former finance minister P Chidambaram on Saturday accused the Modi government of harming the interests of farmers with the passage of the two Bills in the Lok Sabha.

In a media statement, he said the two bills do not contain a clause stating that the price the farmer gets from a private purchaser will not at least equal to the minimum support price (MSP). 

"The bills undermine the only regulated market available to the farmer today, without creating thousands of alternative markets that will be accessible to the farmer," he said.     

Chidambaram asserted that the bills assume perversely that the farmer