Farmers Movement Archive

‘They are insulting farmers’: PM Modi on protesters burning tractors at India Gate over farm laws

A day after the Congress’s youth wing members set a tractor on fire in Delhi in protest against the new farm laws, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that these parties are insulting the farmers. Launching a sharp attack on Opposition parties leading the protests against the farm laws, PM Modi said, “For years, they said that they will implement MSP (Minimum Support Price) but they never did. This was done by our government as per the recommendation of the Swaminathan Commission.”He also said that the Opposition parties are protesting “just for the sake of it”.“These reforms will strengthen labourers, youth, women, farmers of the nation,” PM Modi said during the launch of six mega projects in Uttarakhand under the Namami Gange project.“Farmers can now sell their produce to anyone, anywhere. They do not want farmers to sell their produce in an open market, they want middlemen to earn the profit,” PM Modi also said, adding “They’re opposing the freedom of farmers”.“Their (opposition) one more medium to earn black income is finished,” he added.In assurance to farmers, PM Modi said. “There will not only be MSP in the country but also the freedom for farmers to sell their produce anywhere.”“For years these people (opposition) didn’t do anything to empower our security forces. Air Force kept asking for Rafale but they never listened to them. When our government signed a contract with France government for Rafale aircraft they started having a proble,” PM Modi said, sharpening the attack on Opposition parties.“When world was celebrating International Yoga Day, under India’s initiative, they were opposing Yoga in India. When Statue of Unity was being unveiled, they were opposing it,” he also said.President Ram Nath Kovind signed three contentious farm bills into law on Sunday even as over a dozen Opposition parties urged him not to sign them, saying they were passed “unconstitutionally” in “complete disregard” of parliamentary norms.The farm bills are Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020, Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020 and Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill 2020.Some farmer organisations protested against the passage of the billls, blocking the Amritsar-Delhi railway track even as the government has insisted that they will make them self-reliant. They say the new laws could lead to an end of the MSP for their produce.

Hindustan Times

29-09-2020

India