Accept farmers demand on MSP, movement won’t end without it: Varun Gandhi to PM

PTI, Nov 20, 2021, 12:36 PM IST

BJP MP Varun Gandhi on Saturday requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to accept the farmers’ demand for statutory MSP guarantee for their crops, saying their movement wouldn’t end without it.

In a letter to the prime minister, the MP from Pilibhit in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh also asked him to take action against Union minister Ajay Kumar Mishra ‘Teni’ for the violence in Lakhmipur Kheri without taking his name.

Gandhi thanked Modi for repealing the three farm laws. ”if this decision had been taken earlier, innocent lives would not have been lost.” he added, a day after Modi announced the rollback of the three farm laws.

In his letter, Gandhi underscored the need to accept the farmers’ demand on minimum support prices (MSP). ”This movement will not end without the resolution of this demand and there will be widespread anger amongst them, which will continue to emerge in one form or the other. Therefore, it is very important for the farmers to get the statutory guarantee of MSP for their crops,” he wrote. He said the legal binding on MSP will give sizeable economic security cover to farmers. ”My humble request to you is that the government must immediately accept this demand in the interests of our nation.” Gandhi described the Lakhimpur incidence in which several farmers were killed as heartbreaking and a ”blemish on our democracy”. ”… It is my request to you that appropriately strict action is taken against the Union Minister who has been connected to this incident, so that there is a fair enquiry,” Gandhi said, referring to ‘Teni’ without taking his name. He also demanded that Rs 1 crore compensation be given to farmers martyred in this movement and that all ”politically motivated false” FIRs against the protesting farmers be quashed.