'Protests Not Engineered By Opposition': Farmers' Leaders Respond To PM Modi, Agri Minister Tomar

The AIKSCC said that the government is wrong in assuming that the farmers' agitation against the three farm laws is being engineered by opposition parties.

Farmers during their sit-in protest against the Centre's farm reform laws, in New Delhi. (Image: PTI)

New Delhi: Even after twenty-five days of stringent demonstrations, farmers at Delhi borders remained steadfast in their demands of repealing the three agriculture laws as national capital recorded its coldest day on Saturday. As the farmers' deadlock with the government has entered its four weeks, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Centre went on with its campaigns to showcase benefits of the new legislations. However, two-days after Agriculture Minister Narendra Tomar's eight-page open letter to farmers and PM Modi's appeal to read it, leaders of the protesting farmers' unions have responded saying that the ongoing farmers' protests are not affiliated to any political party. In separate letters in Hindi to PM Modi and Tomar, the AIKSCC said that the government is wrong in assuming that the farmers' agitation against the three farm laws is being engineered by opposition parties. Letters by farmers' unions came as a rebuttal to Prime Minister's statement made in Madhya Pradesh where he  said that the protesting farmers are being misled by Opposition parties. Addressing farmers of Madhya Pradesh on Friday, Modi had defended the new farm laws, saying they were in the works for decades and those who are opposing them now for gaining lost political ground were once votaries of the same reforms. The opposition parties were against the new laws as they were upset that he would get the credit, Modi said, adding that he did not seek any credit but nobody should mislead farmers. In the letter, the AIKSCC said, "Any demand of any protesting farmer union and group is not affiliated to an political party." In the open letter to the agriculture minister, the farmer union alleged discrepancies in the three farm laws. The AIKSCC further alleged that the minister was diverting the main issues of farmers from discussion. In an open letter addressing farmers, Tomar had Thursday accused the Congress and other opposition parties of spreading falsehood about the new farm laws. He had also appealed to the agitating farmers not to fall prey to these "white lies" and said the Centre was ready to address all their concerns. Meanwhile, farmers camping at Delhi-Noida border in protests burnt copies of an open letter of Union Agriculture Minister written to them in a bid to pacify them. A group of transgenders also joined farmers at their protest site at Chilla border during the day and entertained them with songs and dance, with some of them also taking digs at the government over its alleged adamant attitude over farm laws. Scores of protestors from various districts of western Uttar Pradesh are camping at the Chilla border and at a nearby Dalit Prerna Sthal since the first week of December. Thousands of farmers are currently staying put at Delhi's borders with Haryana and Uttar Pradesh in protest against the Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.