NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Modi on Saturday at the all-party meet said that the government’s proposal to protesting farmers on the new farm laws still stands. PM Modi chaired an all-party meeting on Saturday to put forth the government’s legislative agenda for the Budget Session of Parliament.
In his virtual to the party leaders, PM Modi said his government has been continuously trying to resolve issues of protesting farmers through talks. A resolution to the issues should be found through dialogue while asserting that everyone has to think about the nation, he added.
On January 22, during the 10th round of talks with protesting farmers, the government proposed to suspend the new legislations for one-and-a-half years and also proposed to set up a joint committee to discuss the Acts. But the farmers had rejected the government’s proposal.
In his virtual address to the party leaders, PM Modi said that Union agriculture minister NS Tomar was just a phone call away for protesting farmers. The agriculture minister had conveyed the same to farmer leaders earlier this month, he added.
“I want to reiterate what Narendra Singh Tomar said to farmers. He said- we are not reaching a consensus but we are giving you the offer and you (farmers) may go and deliberate. I am just a phone call away,” ANI quoted the PM as saying.
On the issue of Republic Day violence, PM reportedly said the “law will take its own course.”
While paying homage to Mahatma Gandhi, he said all parties with fewer should get ample time to raise issues that need to be deliberated upon.
“But when the house is disrupted, most of the harm is done to small political parties as their time gets deducted. So everyone should appeal that the house should continue to function. Prominent parties can give their bytes,” added the PM.
Meanwhile, he also expressed regret over the vandalisation of Mahatma Gandhi’s statue in the United States on Saturday.
“On January 30, few elements vandalised Mahatma Gandhi’s statue on foreign land. What will we give to the nation by showing such hatred,” the PM reportedly said.
In the all-party meeting, Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, TMC’s Sudip Bandyopadhyay, Shiv Sena MP Vinayak Raut, and SAD’s Balwinder Singh Bhunder spoke at length on farmers agitation.
Reportedly, the meet was not attended by Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) and Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP).
(With agency inputs)