Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday announced the repeal of the three controversial farm laws against which farmers have been staging a protest for almost a year at the borders of Delhi.
Farmers from neighbouring states of Delhi has been protesting the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, the Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act 2020.
PM chose the occasion of Guru Nanak Jayanti to announce the repeal of the three laws.
Addressing the nation, Modi said, “Today, while apologising to the countrymen”.
“Today is the holy festival of light of Guru Nanak Dev Ji. This is not the time to blame anyone,” PM Modi said, while over 600 farmers have lost their lives during the protest.
He promised to take back the laws in the next parliamentary session after completing the constitutional process.
Two weeks from today, November 26, would have marked a year of farmers besieging Delhi demanding to strike down the three laws.
The decision right before elections in Uttar Pradesh and other four states where Modi’s BJP is facing backlash due to the ongoing agitation by farmers. Eight people were killed in Lakhimpur Kheri on October 3 after a vehicle that was part of Union minister Ajay Mishra’s convoy ran over farmers protestors the laws.
BJP would use the announcement as a facelift in the poll-bound states.
protesting farmers bodies is yet to respond to the decision, while leaders of opposition parties and critics of Modi express it as a “historic victory”.
Farmers protest in the borders of Delhi was, at times, lauded as the largest protest gathering in human history.
