As the farmers’ protests continue to drag on to achieve the political goals of the opposition parties, a lot of lives have been lost. The Modi government has taken a bold stand and decided to not pay compensation to the families of the protesters who have lost their lives in the politically backed farmers’ protests.
In his reply to a written question by several Lok Sabha MPs related to dialogue with farmer organisations, Union Agricultural Minister, Narendra Singh Tomar stated that the Union government doesn’t plan to pay compensation to the families of the protesters who lost their lives in the ongoing protests.
Upon being asked specifically that a “number of farmer protesters have died or fallen ill” while agitating, Tomar said that the Central government in the past had, “appealed many times that children and elders including women should be requested to go home in view of the cold and COVID situation and other hardships.”
Tomar replied negatively upon being questioned whether the government proposes to give compensation to the families of the farmers who have died during the agitation.
“So far, 11 rounds of meetings have been held between the government and agitating farmers’ unions to resolve the issues. Government had put forth one proposal after another to amend the farm laws,” stated the Union Agriculture Minister while informing the Lok Sabha.
While the right to protest is the birth right for any citizen living in India, the government has taken the correct stance by not paying compensation or else the Left-liberal ecosystem would have created a monetary model for the protesters and the country would have effectively been plunged into a state of anarchy with unending protests. The sick and the elderly would have been made the frontline of the protests in order to gain compensation from the Union government.
The protests descended into violence on Republic day. Delhi Police Commissioner S N Shrivastava, said, “We have arrested 19 and detained 50 people in connection with the violence during the farmers’ tractor rally. We are using the facial recognition system and taking the help of CCTV and video footage to identify the accused. Those involved in the violence will not be spared and the farmer leaders will be questioned.”
He added, “By late evening of January 25, there were indications that they would not keep their word. They brought forward the aggressive and militant elements, who occupied the stage and delivered provocative speeches which made their intentions clear. Farmer leaders were also involved in the violence that broke out during the tractor rally, Some farmer leaders like Satnam Singh Pannu and Darshan Pal gave inflammatory speeches, following which the protesters breached the barricades.”