Addressing a farmers conference in Madhya Pradesh on Friday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that they need not worry about the abolition of the Minimum Support Price or mandi system.
Farmers from several north Indian states have been protesting for weeks against the three new agri-marketing reforms passed by the government of India in September. Many feel that the laws would act against the benefits of the farmers and have been calling for a complete repeal.
Reassuring the farmers, Modi said that his government was willing to discuss the three reforms clause-by-clause, adding that farmers' issues were his "top priority" and that he was ready "with folded hands and bowed head" to talk on every issue.
In his address, the PM also attacked the Opposition for peddling misinformation about the farm laws. He said that the farmers should be wary of political parties that are trying to “manipulate and mislead” them for political gains.
The address, which Modi delivered through video call, earned praise on social media with many appreciating the PM's efforts to help solve the farmers' crisis.
That the Prime Minister of the nation is folding his hands and requesting the nation to give a chance to some of the best reforms in India's agricultural history is the direct result of decades of systemic socialism having clogged our body politic https://t.co/iUD0JRogxa
— Dr Praveen Patil (@5Forty3) December 18, 2020
This is one of the best speeches by PM @narendramodi on a single issue : detailed & simple to understand.With assurance coming from the country's PM on every issue mentioned in the agri Bills, I hope this speech is circulated widely.#FarmerBill2020 https://t.co/uvgolOQImb
— GeeKay (@gunjakapoor) December 18, 2020
#ModiWithFarmers A must needed speech on farmers protest and the bill 👏. Hope the intellectuals can learn and fairly utilise the democracy. Politicians refrain from disrupting the peace of farmers. 🙏
— Abhilash Shukla (@AbhilashShuklaa) December 18, 2020
Not giving an inch.. And they think they can get him to repeal the laws..PM post wasn't handed over to him in a platter unlike they do to Gandhi families.. https://t.co/FVbNUnnIsY
— ராஜேஷ் (@RajeshChakram) December 18, 2020
No one communicates better than @narendramodi wat lucidly he mentions about MSPbhai kanoon toh 6 mahine pehle lagooo hai n fir bhi MSP aa raha hai, toh MSP hataya kaise jayega
— JeM!N Panchal (@jemin_p) December 18, 2020
Modi ji ab isse jyada nahi samjhaya ja sakta hai !!!Ab ye maan jaaye toh thik hai nahi toh jai ram ji ki... Aap wahi kariye jo inke hit mein hai...#FarmersWithModi #FarmersWithPMModi pic.twitter.com/53MWedZ5ji
— Aanchal Gaikwad (@GaikwadAanchal) December 18, 2020
Farmers, mostly from Punjab, have demanded that the Modi government roll back the reforms intended to bring investment in the antiquated farm sector but which the farmers say will leave them at the mercy of big corporations. The government has sought to allay concerns, telling farmers they will gain new rights and opportunities. Six rounds of talks between agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar and farmers' union leaders have failed to resolve the deadlock.