Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speech, as well as the government’s latest letter inviting farmers to talk, may have moved the logjam a little. Thirty-six out of 40 farm union protesting against the new farm laws met on Friday to discuss the Centre’s fresh request for talks and a few of the farm leaders have indicated that they may decide to resume dialogue with the government. The final decision will be taken after a meeting of all 40 unions, under the banner of Samyukta Kisan Morcha, on Saturday.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the farmers on Friday through a virtual platform. During the address, PM Modi released an installment of PM Kisan scheme, transferring Rs 18,000 crore to the accounts of 9 crore farmer across the nation. The PM took the opportunity to clarify that the new farm laws do not mean the end of MSP or APMC mandis. “I want to tell the farmers that with the new laws, you can sell your produce anywhere you want, anywhere you get a better price. You want to sell at mandis, to buyers, you will be able to sell to anyone. When the farmers are getting such freedom, what is wrong in this reform? Some people are only interested in spreading lies that mandis and MSP system will be gone with these laws,” the PM said in his address.
In his address, PM Modi also targeted the Mamata Banerjee government in Bengal for not implementing the PM-Kisan scheme in the state, “All states of different political ideologies have given the PM-Kisan benefits to their farmers except for West Bengal where the government is not letting them have it over their political reasons. The farmers from Bengal have even written to the Centre asking for the benefits. Bengal government doesn’t even have to spend anything to give these benefits. It pains me to see the Opposition playing political games over the farmers.”
PM Modi’s remarks attracted sharp reactions from opposition parties. While Congress claimed that the government does not want to solve farmers’ problem and trying to “wear them down”, former ally Shiromani Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Singh Badal said the Centre should stop defaming farmers and hold talks with them on ways to repeal its contentious agriculture laws. A sharp reaction also came from AAP chief and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal who claimed that the new farm laws will not benefit farmers in any way and do a lot of harm.
PM Modi’s speech may have irked the opposition leaders, but the farmers seem to be considering resumption f dialogue after it. The farm unions have indicated their interest in resuming talks with the government as proposed in a fresh letter by the Union agriculture ministry. The final decision on talks will be taken after a meeting of Samyukta Kisan Morcha a group of 40 farm unions on Saturday. Speaking to India Today TV, some of the farmers’ leaders said their demand to repeal the three farms laws will continue. General secretary of Bhartiya Kisan Union (Daoba), Satnam Singh Sahani claimed that during their meetings with the central government, the government accepted that these new laws need some amendments. “When a new law needs more than 10 amendments, then it means it was not made in a proper manner after reasonable thought. This is why we need all three farm laws to be repealed,” he said.
Meanwhile, farmers continued to pour in from various parts of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarkhand, increasing their strength at the Ghazipur (Delhi-UP) border to over 12,000. A large number of protesters also blocked the Delhi-Jaipur highway on Friday.
All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee (AIKSCC) on Friday said that a large number of farmers from UP and Uttarakhand are reaching the Ghazipur border. According to a statement issued by AIKSCC, the number of protesters at the Delhi-UP border has reached 12,000 and more farmers are expected to reach through the night. A similar situation was witnessed at Shahjahanpur on Rajasthan-Haryana border, as protester blocked traffic on both sides of the Delhi-Jaipur highway. According to AIKSCC, over 1,000 protesters from Maharashtra had joined the protests at Shahjahanpur.
发表回复