Lucknow, Feb 16: Accusing the opposition of false propaganda against the new agri-marketing legislation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi Tuesday claimed that those who had made laws for bringing in foreign firms are now creating a scare among farmers over local companies.
While laying the foundation stone for a statue of warrior-king Suheldev in Uttar Pradesh’s Bahraich, Modi also said his government is trying to rectify the mistakes of the earlier regimes that had failed to honour deserving leaders.
Addressing the event through video conference, the prime minister defended the new farm laws, saying the reforms will benefit the small and marginal farmers.
Farmers themselves have begun exposing those involved in false propaganda about them, he said.
His remarks come amid weeks of protests at the borders of Delhi by farmers who say the new laws will throw them at the mercy of big private companies, which will set their own price for farm produce.
But the Modi government says the new laws only give farmers the option of selling their crops to private companies, and government agencies will continue to buy them as before.
The prime minister said farmers in Uttar Pradesh have been getting encouraging results after the enactment of the new laws.
“The entire country has seen that those who made laws for bringing in foreign companies in the farm sector are now scaring farmers in the name of local companies, he said, without elaborating.
The BJP has in the past claimed that other parties too had advocated similar farm reforms in the past, but failed to implement them.
Those who spoke lies and carried out false propaganda for politics are now being exposed, he said.
He unveiled beautification projects in Shravasti and Bahraich, honouring the 11th century king who is an icon of the state’s Rajbhar community.
Though Maharaja Suheldev’s bravery has not found place in history books, he has always been in the hearts of people through the folklore of Awadh, Terai and Purvanchal, he said.
Modi hailed his image as a development-oriented and sensitive ruler. (PTI)