TIL Desk/National/New Delhi/ Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday stoutly defended farm sector reform bills, asserting that they will act as a “protection shield” for farmers and accused those opposing the measures of standing with middlemen and “deceiving” and “lying” to peasants.
With opposition parties dubbing three bills, passed by Lok Sabha and now to be tabled in Rajya Sabha, as “anti-farmers” and the BJP ally Shiromani Akali Dal quitting his government to protest them, Modi refuted their criticism, saying these laws will unshackle farmers by allowing them to sell their produce anywhere by negotiating a better price.
He asserted that the government purchase of farm produce will remain, adding that the mechanism of minimum support price will continue in the same way it always has. At a virtual event to launch several rail projects in Bihar, Modi said his government is committed to providing farmers appropriate price through the MSP, and asserted that no government has done as much for the farming community as the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance in its six years in power since 2014.
Farmers of the country are aware and can see who are standing with middlemen, who “pocketed” profits meant for them, and opposing new opportunities being provided for them through these measures, he said.