New Delhi: The farmers' protest completed its seven months on Saturday, and agitating farmers from across the country are observing "Save Agriculture, Save Democracy Day" at Delhi's borders to commemorate their agitation against the Centre's three contentious agriculture laws enacted in September 2020.
A leader of the farmer union said that they have sent a memorandum from all over India to the President, expressing their deep anguish and indignation and appealed to him to protect both - agriculture and democracy. He said that they will also be sending the same memorandum to all the Governors across the country. Meanwhile, Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) national president Naresh Tikait said that farmers of the whole country are on the roads for the last seven months but the central government has turned a deaf ear to their demands.
"A mere10 per cent of people can't arbitrarily ignore 90 per cent of people of the country. PM Modi-led central government has not given free hands to its ministers. If Union Agricultural Minister were allowed to make decisions independently, farmers' issue would have been resolved by now," he said, adding that farmers of the country are not weak and the government will have to shed its arrogance sooner than later. He further said that farmers of Uttar Pradesh's Saharanpur and Muzaffarnagar districts have already taken out a tractor rally to Delhi borders and farmers of other regions will also join them soon.
He also said that he has no other interest than fighting for farmers as they are going through a very tough time these days. "We were branded with different terms - like terrorists, Khalistanis, Andolanjivis and what not...But we didn't mind all these. We are fighting for the agriculture sector which is currently going in loss, we want it to thrive like any other sector. The government has taken a very long time and now they should accept their mistakes,"
Farmers have been protesting 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.
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