Farmers in Punjab have been protesting the laws for several months
The Centre should not take the farmers' agitation against the three agriculture laws lightly, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh tweeted on Wednesday, after visiting a protest site in the state capital Chandigarh. He appealed to the central government to withdraw the laws.
"People of all age groups are protesting across India against these anti-farmer laws. This evening I joined some citizens at Matka Chowk in Punjab's capital Chandigarh. Again, appeal to the Centre to not take this protest lightly and to repeal these laws," he tweeted.
Farmers in Punjab have been protesting the laws for several months. In November last year, thousands of farmers from the state had marched to Delhi. Joined by farmers from other states - mainly Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, they have been camping at three Delhi borders - Singhu, Tikri and Ghaziabad.
The farmers, led by a front of 40 unions, are demanding a repeal of the laws and legal guarantee to the Minimum Support Price (MSP) system. They fear that the laws will make them susceptible to corporate exploitation and result in the scrapping of the MSP system.
The Punjab Chief Minister has been backing the farmers with almost daily statements against the Centre over the issue. Earlier this month, referring to the local elections, he had said that the BJP's fate was sealed, not just in Punjab but also at the Centre, where its "despotic rule is all set to end".
"What you see on the roads, and which you allege to be the Congress handiwork, is the spontaneous anger triggered among farmers by your arrogant anti-farmer attitude," he had said.
The Congress party today made a clean sweep of Punjab's seven municipal corporations in the state local body polls.
Multiple rounds of talks between the farmers and the government have not been able to end the deadlock.
Earlier this month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while speaking in parliament, had appealed to the farmers to end their agitation. He had assured that the MSP system will not be scrapped.