Opposition using farmers' protest to win back lost political ground: PM Modi

Modi said, "The opposition parties are trying to gain back the lost political ground by using the farmers' protest."

"The entire country knows what they (Opposition) had done during their rule," the PM added.

In a bid to reach out to the farmers, who are protesting against the new farm laws, Modi on Friday addressed the peasants from Madhya Pradesh virtually.

In the address, Modi highlighted how the farmers would be benefitted from the new laws.

Thousands of farmers are camped in Delhi-Haryana border for 23 straight days with the sole demand of the repeal of the laws enacted by the central government through an Ordinance amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

One of the Centre's new farm laws will now allow farmers to sell their produce to institutional buyers beyond the regulated wholesale market.

Though the middlemen in the wholesale markets are often accused of usurping the farmers in the earlier agricultural system, the protesters, backed by several opposition parties, fear they will have little bargaining power while selling their produce to institutional buyers, running the risk of getting exploited with the gradual destablising of the mundies.   

The several rounds of talks between the union ministers and farmers' representatives went in vain as the peasants were stubborn in their demands while the government was in no mood to repeal the laws.