Kerala Assembly | Congress-led UDF Opposition walks out in protest against government’s ‘failure’ to mitigate crisis in rubber sector

The Congress-led United Democratic Front Opposition staged a walkout protest in the Kerala Legislative Assembly accusing the ruling Left Democratic Front government of doing little to mitigate the existential crisis plaguing the declining rubber-growing sector in the State.

The Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) Opposition staged a walkout protest in the Kerala Legislative Assembly on January 31 (Wednesday), accusing the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) government of doing little to mitigate the existential crisis plaguing the declining rubber-growing sector in the State.

Nevertheless, the treasury benches and the Opposition fleetingly found common ground in holding the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Central government primarily accountable for the waning plantation sector in Kerala.

Before leading his party out of the House, Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan signalled that the Opposition would possibly join hands with the ruling front to agitate against the Central government’s refusal to avail itself of protections under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) agreement to seek countervailing anti-dumping measures to protect local rubber production by restricting or banning the import of rubber compound and latex for the next 10 years.

Earlier, introducing a motion seeking the leave of the House for an adjournment debate on the subject, Kerala Congress (Joseph) legislator Mons Joseph said he partially agreed with Agriculture Minister P. Prasad’s position that the Central government’s disregard for the livelihood and economic welfare of 13 lakh small-scale rubber farmers and their dependents in Kerala, and the BJP’s alleged affinity to tyre manufacturing conglomerates had ruined the cash crop sector which was once the backbone of the State’s agrarian economy.

Mr. Joseph said dejected farmers were abandoning plantations in droves. The number of tapping days had dwindled. Cultivators were switching over to other crops. Many faced recovery notices from banks due to their inability to repay agriculture loans they had availed of for replantation.

He said the crisis precipitated by plummetting rubber prices due to the Centre’s “anti-farmer import policy” has rendered thousands of small-scale growers vulnerable to extortion by loan sharks.

Mr. Joseph said the LDF had done nothing to mitigate their distress. Instead, the government sought to blame the Centre for its failures.