UNB, New Delhi :
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi Friday announced the scrapping of three contentious agricultural laws, apparently buckling under year-long farmer protests ahead of assembly polls in two states.
Tens of thousands of farmers have been camping on the outskirts of the national capital in protest against three controversial agricultural laws that they fear could hurt their livelihoods.
“Today I have come to tell you, the whole country, that we have decided to withdraw all three agricultural laws,” Modi said in an address to the nation in the morning.
“In the Parliament session starting later this month, we will complete the constitutional process to repeal these three agricultural laws,” he said, urging the protesting farmers to return to their homes and fields.
The Indian Prime Minister said that his government did its best to educate the farmers of this country about the benefits of the three agricultural laws but failed to achieve the desired results.
“We haven’t been able to explain to our farmers. This is not a time to blame anyone. I want to tell you that we have taken the farm laws back,” Modi added.
The government’s decision comes on the occassion of Guru Nanak Jayanti, which celebrates the birth of the founder of Sikhism, Guru Nanak. It’s the most important festival of the minority Sikh community, who are primarily farmers and inhabitants of Punjab in northern India.
While some farmer bodies welcomed the move, others kept mum. “It’s a good move by PM Narendra Modi on the occasion of Guru Purab,” Joginder Singh Ugrahan, a prominent leader of a faction of the Bharatiyan Kisan Union, told the media.
India’s opposition parties took to Twitter to react to the development.
“The country’s farmers have defeated arrogance with their satyagraha. Jai Hindi, Jai Hindi’s farmers,” the country’s main opposition Congress leader Rahul Gandhi tweeted. His party is a fierce critic of the three “anti-farmer” agricultural laws.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal also tweeted, “Great news on Prakash Divas. Over 700 farmers lost their lives. Their sacrifice will live on. Future generations will remember how farmers gave their all for the cause of farmers. Salute India’s farmers.”
The three farm laws were brought in by the Indian government in September 2020 triggering fierce protests, particularly in the three northern Indian states of Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. Punjab and Uttar Pradesh are set to go to polls soon.
While the Indian government had said that the reforms would help farmers get better prices by allowing them to sell their produce at markets and prices of their choice, the protesters feared the laws would hurt their interests by paving the way for the entry of private players into the agricultural market.
Experts said the three farm laws were revoked by the government in the wake of fierce protests that the top ruling Bharatiya Janata Party leaders had been facing during election campaign in Punjab and UP.
“It is said that the road to Delhi passes through Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh. And the party that wins the majority of seats in assembly polls in the state stands a fair chance to form the federal government,” Prof RK Sinha, a retired Delhi University professor, had earlier said.
The three farm laws are
1. Ending the monopoly of government-regulated markets and allowing farmers to sell their produce directly to private players
2. Ensuring a legal framework for farmers to enter into written pacts with companies and produce for them
3. Allowing agri-businesses to stock food articles and removing the government’s ability to impose restrictions arbitrarily
