Key points:
- PM Modi urged farmers to call off their agitation against agri laws.
- Minimum Support Price will remain, he said.
- We need to give these reforms a chance, he added.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday assured that the minimum support price based agricultural procurement will continue as he urged the farmers to end their protest against the three contentious farm laws.
“We are ready for talks and I am inviting you from this House. MSP tha, MSP hai aur MSP rahega (Minimum Support Price will remain). No one should spread misinformation,” he said while replying to Motion of Thanks on President’s speech in the Rajya Sabha.
PM Modi defended the government over its policies on farmers and took at a dig at the opposition, saying that every government had spoken for the reforms in agriculture sector but various parties had taken a “u-turn”.
Hitting out at the Congress-led oppisition for criticising the Centre over agri laws, PM Modi quoted his predecessor Manmohan Singh on the need for reforms in the farm sector and said Congress should take pride that Modi had to do what the former Prime Minister wanted.
“It is our intention to remove all those handicaps wihich come in the way of India realizing its vast potential as one large common market,” the PM quoted Manmohan Singh as saying. “Manmohan Ji had talked about giving a free market to farmers and make India a large common market.”
The prime minister also hit out at those behind the protests, saying a new “breed” of agitators has emerged in the country who cannot live without an agitation and the country should be beware of them.
“A new entity has come up in the country- ‘Andolan Jivi’. They can be spotted wherever there is a protest, be it agitation by lawyers, students, or labourers, explicitly or implicitly. They cannot live without ‘andolan’, we have to identify them and protect nation from them.”
He also said the new FDI (Foreign Destructive Ideology) has emerged in the country and “we need to be more aware to save the country from such ideology”.
PM Modi also stressed that India is very proud of the contribution of Sikhs and the language used by some for them will not benefit the country. He alleged that some people are also trying to defame Sikhs.
“This is a community that has done so much for the nation. The country takes pride in the contribution of Sikhs, but some people are trying to defame them. The words and blessings of the Guru Sahibs are precious. The language used by some for them will not benefit the country,” he said.
