NEW DELHI: Farm unions on Friday objected to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar’s comments linking the ongoing protests with opposition parties and said the
farmers
were determined to continue their agitation seeking repeal of the
new farm laws
.
“In place of addressing the issue of repeal of the three farm Acts which erode farmers hold on land and farming, and establish MNCs and big business to grow in agriculture, he (PM) has reduced himself to a party leader, undermining his role as a responsible executive head of the country, expected to solve problems,” All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee (
AIKSCC
) said in a statement.
The AIKSCC, which has been coordinating with all 40 unions which participated in talks with the government, was referring to Modi’s remarks during his address to a ‘
Kisan Sammelan
’, held across Madhya Pradesh through video conferencing.
On Tomar’s open letter to farmers on Thursday, the AIKSCC said it was full of references to
Congress,
AAP
and
Akalis
(SAD), which were not the issues the farmers were protesting about. “He (Tomar) has made fictitious claims that farmers will not lose their land, which is contradicted by the Contract Act, 2020, which provides for farmers’ land to be mortgaged under Section 9 and for recovery of dues from farmers under Section 14.7 as arrears of land revenue for advances taken from the company under Section 14.2 of the Act,” the committee said.The AIKSCC will issue an “open reply” to Tomar’s letter on Saturday, with point-wise objections on other clauses of the newly-enacted farm laws.