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New Delhi: Weeks after the contentious farm laws were repealed by the Centre, Bharatiya Kisan Union BKU leader Rakesh Tikait on Sunday said that the farmers do not want Prime Minister Narendra Modi to apologise to them, adding that they do not want his image to be tarnished abroad.
“We do not want the Prime Minister to apologize. We don’t want to tarnish his reputation abroad. If any decision would be taken, it would not be done without the consent of farmers. We cultivate the fields and are loyal to our profession but Delhi did not pay attention to our demands,” the BKU leader Rakesh Tikait said in a tweet (translated from his Hindi tweet).
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Responding to a recent statement by Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, Rakesh Tikait said that the remark made by the minister was intended to trick farmers and humiliate the Prime Minister.
Mr Tomar while addressing a public event in Nagpur said, “We brought the farm laws, but few disliked it. The government did not admonish it. Instead we moved a step back and will again move forward again because farmers are the backbone of the nation. If the backbone is strengthened, will the country become stronger.”
The three farm laws were repealed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 19. These bills were passed during the winter session of Parliament which began on November 23.
A year-long protest by farmers began on August 9, 2020 that continued till December 11 2021. The protest began against the three farm acts that were passed by the Parliament of India in September 2020.
Often called as the Farm Bills, the acts have been described as “anti-farmer laws” by many farmer unions and opposition political leaders, calling it a malicious doctrine, leaving the farmers at the “mercy of corporate”.
The farmers also demanded the creation of a minimum support price (MSP) bill to ensure corporate have no say or control on the agri-prices.
The union government however maintained that the laws will make it effortless for farmers to sell their produce directly to buyers.
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Soon after the acts were passed, protests broke out across North India, mostly in Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana from where the farmers came parading towards Delhi.
The farmers then after began a ‘Dilli Chalo’ movement in which tens of thousands of farming union members marched towards the nation’s capital.
A total of 11 rounds of talks were held between the farmer unions and the Central Government between 14 October 2020 and 22 January 2021.
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