Farmers Movement Archive

Congress slams Centre for having ‘no record’ of farmers’ death, demands compensation

The Congress on Friday produced a list of martyred farmers who lost their lives during the agitation against the controversial farm laws and slammed the BJP-led Centre over their remark in Parliament that the government did not have any record of such deaths. “The Centre said that the Ministry of Agriculture has no record of these 700 martyred farmers. But we did some homework and as it turns out, there are 403 people who the Government of Punjab has compensated with ₹5 lakh.....Why doesn’t the Government of India have the decency to give compensation to the families of the martyred,” questioned Congress leader Rahul Gandhi at a press conference. He added that if the government is having difficulties procuring the names of the martyred farmers, then they can refer to Congress’ list and provide the families with ex gratia.The Wayanad MP added, “The Prime Minister admitted his mistake and apologized to the nation. As a result of that “mistake”, 700 people have died. The government should pay a minimum compensation for the sacrifices they (farmers) made.” He also alleged that PM Modi would do anything for his industrialist friends.Members of the Bharatiya Janata Party were unavailable for comment.Through a written reply, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar told the Lok Sabha on December 1 that the government did not have any record of farmers who died during the protest and therefore there was no question of compensation to the families. This is the second time the Union government has informed Parliament it had no information on farmers’ death at various protest sites. During the Monsoon Session too, held in July and August, the government said it had no data.

Hindustan Times

03-12-2021

India