Central government should accept demands of farmers without further delay: Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot

JAIPUR: Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot said on Saturday the Centre should accept the farmers' demand of repealing the three agri laws "without delay", as the protesters announced further intensification of their ongoing stir against the legislations.

Farmer leader Kanwalpreet Singh Pannu, at a press conference at the Singhu border of Delhi, has said thousands of farmers will start their 'Delhi Chalo' march from Rajasthan's Shahjahanpur through the Jaipur-Delhi Highway at 11 am on Sunday.

He said that farmers from other parts of the country were also on their way to join the protesters at the Delhi border and they will take the agitation to the next level in the coming days.

In a tweet, the Rajasthan chief minister said, "I am happy that till now the farmer movement has been very peaceful. Violence has no place in democracy. Even on the Delhi-Jaipur highway, farmers should put their demands democratically in front of the centre and maintain peace."

"The Central government should accept the demands of the farmers without further delay," he wrote on the microblogging site.

The Centre on Friday asked the protesting farmers to be vigilant against their platform being misused, saying some "anti-social" as well as "Leftist and Maoist" elements were conspiring to spoil the atmosphere of the agitation which has been going on for over two weeks now.

Enacted in September, the three farm laws have been projected by the government as major reforms in the agriculture sector that will remove the middlemen and allow farmers to sell their produce anywhere in the country.

However, the protesting farmers have expressed apprehension that the new laws would pave the way for eliminating the safety cushion of Minimum Support Price and do away with the mandi system, leaving them at the mercy of big corporates.