New Delhi: NCP chief and former agriculture minister Sharad Pawar on Tuesday alleged that the central government imposed three laws related to agriculture without consulting the states. He said that matters of farming cannot be dealt with by sitting in Delhi as farmers living in remote villages are associated with this. Sharad Pawar questioned the structure of the three-member Group of Ministers set up to negotiate with farmers ‘organizations as the five months of negotiations to enter the second month of farmers’ protests along the Delhi border and the solution to the problem remained inconclusive. Said that the ruling party should forward such leaders who have a deep understanding about the issues of agriculture and farmers. Sharad Pawar said that the government needs to take the protests seriously and it is not fair to blame Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the opposition parties for the farmers’ agitation.
He said that if the government fails to address the issues of farmers in the next meeting with representatives of 40 unions protesting, then the opposition parties will decide on future steps on Wednesday. Asked whether Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar claimed that Pawar, as the then Agriculture Minister in the Manmohan Singh-led UPA government, wanted agrarian reform but could not do so under political pressure, the NCP leader said he would definitely But some reforms were wanted in this area, but not in the way the BJP government has done. Pawar said that he contacted all the state governments before the reforms and did not proceed before resolving their objections.
