NEW DELHI: Bhartiya Janata Party (Bjp) on Tuesday launched a campaign on social media to separate fact from fiction about the new agricultural laws against which thousands of farmers have been protesting for more than a week.
In the context of the ‘Bharat Bandh’ organized by the agitated farmers today, BJP posted a series of tweets in Hindi to clarify the “disruptive and deceptive agenda” on agricultural reforms.
In a tweet, BJP said: “New agricultural reforms will bring prosperity to farmers’ lives!” Urging farmers to “know the truth,” wrote the ruling party, “avoid misleading propaganda by disruptive and anarchist forces.”
The BJP, using social media memes, underlined the positive aspects of the new laws and said that with the reforms, farmers will be able to sell their products in MSP within the mandi system and also outside the mandis.
In another tweet, the ruling party said: “They (the old governments) kept diverting farmers and licking all the cream themselves, while Modi Sarkar works on the welfare of farmers.”
The Center has said the reforms will bring in private investment, create jobs in villages and make farming profitable. The legislation will give way to the creation of agricultural infrastructure such as cold storage and storage in the villages and will allow the creation of 10,000 FPO (Agricultural Producers Organization), discouraging farmers from selling their distressed produce.
Prime Minister Modi, who supported farm laws, had previously said development reforms are needed and some laws from the last century have now become a burden, although he did not directly address agricultural reforms.
The three contentious laws at the center of farmers ‘protests are the Agricultural Products Trade and Trade (Promotion and Facilitation) Act of 2020, the Farmers’ Price Guarantee and Agricultural Services (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of 2020 and the Essential Products (Amendment) Act of 2020.
Farmers argue that the legislation favors businesses and has demanded that it be repealed. The agitator unions have also said they can support the laws if some amendments are made according to their demands. Farmers want any changes to the existing system to continue to guarantee MSP which they say will erode over time under the new laws.
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