PM: Small farmers already benefiting from new laws
LUCKNOW: Farmers are coming forward to expose the “politics of lies” by those who brought foreign companies into the sector but are now creating scare over three new farm laws that aim to open up agriculture trade, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Tuesday.
Laying the foundation stone for 11th century warrior king Suheldev’s memorial via videoconferencing, he said the new laws, which have triggered widespread protests near Delhi, will benefit small and marginal farmers the most.
“The new farm laws are already benefiting small farmers…but efforts are being made to spread misinformation,” Modi said, dedicating to people a medical college in Bahraich at the same event. He also inaugurated the Chittaura Lake development project near the city.
“Those who enacted laws to invite foreign companies in Indian agriculture markets are trying to scare the people using names of Indian companies. The farmers are now exposing this politics of lies,” he said in his 30-minute speech.
Though Modi did not elaborate or name any political party in this context, he was apparently referring to the Congress, which has supported the protest by farmers. Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has in the past claimed that other parties too advocated farm reforms, but failed to implement them. Uttar Pradesh Congress leader Surendra Rajput said the PM should speak about the present, and not the past or the future. “He should remember he is holding the office of the Prime Minister of India, and not working as an actor,” Rajput said. PM’S remarks came at a time when thousands of farmers, mainly from Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, are camping on Delhi’s borders to protest the three laws passed by Parliament in September. Farmers say the reforms would make them vulnerable to exploitation by big corporations, erode their bargaining power and weaken the government’s minimum support price (MSP) system, which offers cultivators assured prices from the government, largely for wheat and rice. The government says the reforms were much-needed, will give farmers more options and eventually benefit them.
AK Singh, former director at Giri Institute of Development Studies in Lucknow, said “both the advantages and apprehensions over the farm laws have been exaggerated”. “The PM should speak to farmers to work out a compromise on the issue.” Governor Anandiben Patel and chief minister Yogi Adityanath attended the programme organised to mark the birth anniversary of Suheldev, an icon of the state’s Rajbhar community.