The reforms have provided farmers with new options and safeguards, Prime Minister Modi said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke today in defense of the agricultural laws again as his ministers rushed to discuss the gigantic protest against the new laws, which threatens to cut off roads to the national capital. Camping on the borders of Delhi, farmers, angered by the conditional proposal of the Union Interior Minister, Amit Shah, for the first talks, have spoken of a gherao from the city. Over the past 24 hours, Mr. Shah has held a series of meetings with his cabinet colleagues.
Reaching out to farmers, who have accused the government of making the new laws for the benefit of business, Prime Minister Modi said: “I know decades of falsehood put misgivings in the minds of farmers,” I mean this. from the shore of Mother Ganga – we are not working with the intention of deceiving. Our intentions are as holy as the water of the Ganges river. “
“If someone thinks the old system is better, how does this law stop someone, bhai?” he added, in an attempt to reassure farmers that the new open market system will not spell the end of traditional mandi and the minimum support prices set by the government.
Yesterday at a press conference, farmers had mocked the government’s “One Nation One Market” proposal for farm laws, saying that by a 1977 rule made by the then Janata Party government, farmers have been able to sell your products anywhere in the country.
“Just to keep companies happy, they’ve done this … They couldn’t find any logic, so they said they’ve done ‘One nation, one market,'” a farmer leader had said.
The reforms have given farmers new options and safeguards, the prime minister said in a speech at an event in his local constituency, Varanasi. They are giving farmers better access to markets, both national and international.
“Indian agricultural products are famous all over the world. This big market and more money, shouldn’t (farmers) have this at their fingertips?” he said.
Prime Minister Modi had also spoken out in favor of the farm laws in his monthly Mann ki Baat radio address yesterday, saying he had long complied with farmers’ demands. But that had irritated agricultural leaders, who asked the government to name the farmer who was requesting these laws.
The protesters, who braved water cannons, tear gas and police barricades for the past week to reach Delhi, threatened to block roads to Delhi from five entry points: Sonipat, Rohtak, Jaipur, Ghaziabad-Hapur and Mathura.
For nearly three months, farmers have been on the warpath over farm laws, which the government says will cut out middlemen and improve farmers’ profits by allowing them to sell produce anywhere in the country.
Farmers fear that the new laws will deprive them of guaranteed minimum prices set by the government for their products and leave them at the mercy of companies.
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