Union Minister V K Singh on Tuesday sparked a row after he said that many of the protestors against the Centre’s farm laws near Delhi “did not appear to be farmers in pictures.”
"Many of the people in pictures do not appear to be farmers. What is in the interest of farmers has been done. It's not the farmers who have a problem with this (farm laws), but others. Besides opposition, people who get commission are behind it (protest)," Singh told ANI.
On Tuesday, the first round of talks between leaders of 35 farmers’ organisations with Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar remained inconclusive, as the government refused to accede to their demand to repeal the newly enacted farm laws.
The farmers’ leaders also turned down the government's offer to set up a small committee of experts to resolve the contentious issues. Besides Tomar, Food and Consumer Affairs Minister Piyush Goyal and Minister of State for Commerce Som Parkash attended the meeting.
“We want the three laws to be repealed. That is our only demand,” Balbir Singh Rajewal, President of the Rajewal faction of the Bhartiya Kisan Union, said after the meeting.