PM Narendra Modi allays Opposition`s concerns, assures farm bills will rescue farmers from many bonds

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday stoutly defended farm sector reform bills, asserting that they will act as a protection shield for farmers and accused those opposing the measures of standing with middlemen and deceiving and lying to peasants.

With opposition parties dubbing three bills, passed by Lok Sabha and now to be tabled in Rajya Sabha, as "anti-farmers" and the BJP ally Shiromani Akali Dal quitting his government to protest them, Modi refuted their criticism, saying these laws will unshackle farmers by allowing them to sell their produce anywhere by negotiating a better price.

He asserted that the government purchase of farm produce will remain, adding that the mechanism of minimum support price will continue in the same way it always has.