Bihar Agri Min calls farmers protesting at Delhi 'dalals'; claims all others backing laws

Stoking a controversy over the ongoing farmers' protest, Bihar Agriculture Minister Amrendra Pratap Singh said that the protests are not being carried out by farmers but by "dalals" (brokers). As per local media reports, Amrendra Pratap Singh made the comments while interacting to reporters in Vaishali. He said that there are 5.5 lakh villages in the country but no agitation is taking place there.

"Are there farmers only at the borders of Delhi and Haryana? There are more than 5 lakh villages in the country. Is any protest taking place in any village? Are farmers in Bihar protesting? Farmers living in 5.5 lakh villages are not bothered as they are aware that the new farm laws are beneficial for them. You are taking notice of a handful of "dalals" who are agitating claiming to be farmers. The country would have been burning until now had there been a farmers' agitation indeed," said Amrendra Pratap Singh of the BJP.

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PM Modi's outreach

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday paid an unscheduled visit to the Gurudwara Rakab Ganj Sahib in Delhi, amid the ongoing farmers' protest at Delhi's border. Earlier on Saturday, PM Modi shared Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar's 8-page letter to farmers in nine different languages. PM Modi shared the letter in  Kannada, Odiya, Telugu, Tamil, Punjabi, Malayalam, Gujarati, Marathi and Bengali - to connect with most non-BJP states, miffed with the Centre's Farm Laws. In a bid to reach out to farmers across the nation on the three Farm laws, BJP leaders are highlighting the benefits of the farm laws. PM Modi had also announced that he would address farmers again on December 25 - the birth anniversary of late PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee - on the 3 Farm laws and initiate another instalment of direct benefit transfer (DBT) to farmer accounts.

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Farmers protest continues

The farmers' protest has entered day 25 with the farmers staying firm that they want a total repeal of the Farm acts. Rejecting the Centre's proposed amendment to the three Farm Laws, they have stated a 'lack of trust' in the Modi government. The farm union leaders were sent a 10-point proposal by the Centre assuring to give written guarantee for Minimum Support Price (MSP), empowering states to create a law which will prevent misuse of traders' registration, continuing current electricity bill payment done by the government and amend the stubble burning penalty clause. While the Centre has been in talks with several other farm unions supporting the Laws, the protesting unions have retaliated by approaching the Supreme Court seeking a total repeal of the laws and a nationwide farm waiver.

On the other side, Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said that the government is hopeful of resolving farmers' agitation by the year-end, as per PTI. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court has offered to form a panel to facilitate the talks with farms to stop the protests and remove the blockade to Delhi highways. Punjab is the only state which has passed farms negating the Centre's laws, while Delhi has passed a resolution against it.

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