New Delhi
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Friday that protests by farmers against three laws brought by his government were politically motivated, as he touted the success of an agricultural scheme launched last year.
Modi also offered to hold fresh talks to end a stalemate over new agricultural reforms, in his latest push to win over farmers protesting for almost a month against the move.
Thousands of farmers from several Indian states have been camped on the outskirts of New Delhi for over a month, blocking highways to demand that Modi’s government repeal the farm laws passed in September that they say threaten their livelihoods.
But Modi’s virtual public address on Friday was not focused on the laws under contention.
Instead, he spoke via video conferencing to seven farmers from different states, asking them how they had benefited from ‘PM Kisan’ — a cash transfer scheme his government launched in February 2019, under which farmers get minimum income support.
