Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Friday urged Punjab farmers to end their protest and come forward to hold discussions with the Government to resolve the deadlock over the three new farm laws.
Soon after Prime Minister Narendra Modi accused Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of blocking the PM KISAN scheme for farmers in West Bengal due to political reasons, Tomar said he wrote a letter to Banerjee on Thursday asking her to not prevent farmers from the benefits of the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme.
Stating that there is some misconception in the minds of Punjab farmers, the agriculture minister said: “I want to urge them to leave the protest and come forward for the dialogue. I am hopeful that farmers will understand the importance of new laws and reach a solution.”
His deputy Minister of State for Agriculture Kailash Choudhary said, “I hope in the next meeting between farmers and the government, a solution will be reached. Farmers in many states are also supporting the new farm laws and sending ‘thank you’ letters to the Prime Minister”.
The ministry also reiterated it is ready to find a “logical solution” to the issues raised by protesting farmer unions.
The Government has written twice inviting them for the next round of talks at a date of their convenience.
Reacting to the PM KISAN scheme in West Bengal, the agriculture minister also attacked the opposition for ‘shooting their ideological gun’ from the shoulders of farmers and harming them eventually. He asked the agitating farmers to stop the protest and come to the discussion table.
Tomar said that the Agriculture Ministry has collated data that shows 70 lakh farmers would have benefitted PM Kisan Samman Nidhi had the Mamata government participated and allowed implementation of the scheme in the state, which was also pointed out by the Prime Minister earlier on Friday.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had written to Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar on two occasions saying that she is willing to transfer the benefits of PM Kisan to the farmers provided it is routed through the State Government.