Decided to repeal all three farm laws, says PM Modi

New Delhi, Nov 19: Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his address to the nation announced on Friday that the Centre will repeal the three controversial farm laws, and appealed to the protesting farmers to return home.

Addressing the nation on the auspicious occasion of Guru Nanak Jayanti, Modi insisted that the laws were in the benefit of farmers and then apologised to people of the country while adding that the government could not convince a section of farmers despite its clear heart and clean conscience.

Prime Minister said that three farm laws were brought to empower and strengthen small farmers, adding that it was a demand by farmers, economists and agri experts.

The prime minister lamented a section of farmers has remained unconvinced about the benefits of the farm laws, prompting the government to take such a decision.

"There may have been some shortcoming in our efforts due to which we could not explain the truth, as clear as the light of the diya, to some of our farmer brothers," he said.

Noting that it is the birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev, he said it was no occasion to blame anyone. "I have come to tell you that we have decided to repeal the three farm laws. In the upcoming Parliament session starting at the end of this month, we will complete the constitutional process to repeal the three farm laws," Modi said.

"I would request all my protesting farmer friends, today is the auspicious day of Guru Purab, return home, to your fields and family and make a new beginning, let us move forward afresh," he said. The goal of the three farm laws was to empower farmers, especially small farmers, the prime minister said.

He listed various steps taken by his government for the welfare of small farmers and pointed out that the agriculture budget has risen by five times with over Rs 1.25 lakh crore being spent annually.

Modi said that he had seen the challenges faced by farmers very closely in his five decades of public life and therefore when the country gave the opportunity to serve as 'Pradhan Sevak' in 2014, he gave top priority to agriculture development and farmers welfare. The Centre, which has held 11 rounds of formal dialogue with the farmers, had maintained that the new laws are pro-farmer, while protesters claim they would be left at the mercy of corporations because of the legislations.

The ruling BJP will hope that the decision to repeal the three laws will cancel out the political headwinds it has encounters in Punjab and western Uttar Pradesh, two states which are going to the polls early next year.

The decision will also help former Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh in sealing his expected alliance with the BJP for the polls.

Several farmer organisations were protesting against the passage of three laws -- The Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020 and Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020.

Initially, the protests started from Punjab in November last year and later spread mainly to Delhi, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh.