Dialogue is the only way to resolve a matter: Centre to protesting farmers

New Delhi : As farmers continue their agitation against government over Minimum Support Price (MSP), Union Minister Anurag Thakur on Wednesday said that dialogue is the only way to resolve the matter and added that the Central government is always ready for a discussion with "annadatas" of the nation.

"The government was ready for discussions earlier, we are ready now and will always be ready in future. We do not have any problem, they are our annadatas," he said.

Meanwhile, the Union Minister also slammed UPA government of provoking farmers and asserted that PM Modi-led government has allocated more funds to the farmers as compared to the time when UPA was in power.

"Despite global fertilizer price hikes, we shielded Indian farmers from rising costs through ₹3 lakh crore in subsidies. We introduced Nano Urea and increased MSP allocation from ₹5.50 lakh crore under UPA to ₹18.39 lakh crore under the Modi government, a 3.5x jump," Anurag Thakur said.

It must be noted that Opposition is blaming the government for being unlawful against the protesting farmers. The opposition leaders criticized the Centre for the death of a youth at the Khanauri Border crossing in Sangrur district, Punjab, during the ongoing farmers’ protests.

Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann said that he was saddened by the death of a young farmer on the Punjab-Haryana border and asserted that stringent action would be taken against those responsible for it.