The protesting farmers should point out the shortcomings in the new farm laws so that the government can rectify them, Union minister Bhanu Pratap Verma said Tuesday, alleging they were tutored into the agitation by Opposition parties.
His statement came on a day a large number of farmers squatted at the gates of the district headquarters in Haryana's Karnal, locked in a showdown with the state's BJP-led government over a police lathicharge last month.
The farmers have been protesting against the three farm laws at Delhi border points for close to 10 months now.
"Instead of being misguided by Opposition parties, the farmers should point out the shortcomings in the farm laws so that they may be rectified," the Minister of State for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises told reporters in Vrindavan.
He said farm laws were enacted to address the need of the people and not to benefit the BJP.
These laws try to address the issues of farmers who earlier complained they were not allowed to sell their produce in the markets of their choice so that they could get maximum benefit.
He said the protesting farmers are unaware of the details of the farm laws and agitating since they have been tutored by Opposition parties.
He asked the Congress as to why it had not given the facility to farmers to sell their produce anywhere in the country.
Since elections are approaching, these parties are "misguiding" the farmers to accrue political mileage, he alleged.
The minister also disclosed the plan of making bio-paint from cow dung. He said the government would provide assistance including training to people who want to opt this trade.
Justifying the enactment of the Citizenship Amendment Act, the minister said had minorities in Pakistan and Bangladesh not been treated like second-rate citizens there, the new law would not have been formulated.
In that case, the minorities in those countries would have been living there peacefully as minorities in India are, he concluded.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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