Bharatiya Kisan Union leader Rakesh Tikait, who met West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday, said the chief minister assured them that she will continue to support the agitation by farmers.
The farmer leader thanked the chief minister for her assurance and said West Bengal should work as a model state, and farmers in the state should be given more benefits.
Banerjee, meanwhile, said for the past seven months, the Union government did not bother to speak to the agitating farmers. "I demand that all three farm laws are withdrawn," the chief minister said.
Before the meeting with the chief minister, Tikait had said they would discuss agriculture, health, education and the local farmers during the interaction.
Earlier, there have been reports that the BKU would seek greater involvement of the Bengal chief minister in the ongoing agitation against the controversial farm laws.
Trinamul Congress national spokesperson Sukhendu Sekhar Roy had said farmer leaders see Mamata as a pro-poor, pro-people mass leader who is capable of taking on the Centre. "They see a wider role for her now, beyond Bengal’s borders," The Telegraph had quoted him as saying.
Tikait had earlier said farmer unions are ready to discuss the contentious agri laws with the Centre whenever it wants to resume talks, but asserted the discussion would have to be about repealing the legislation.
Enacted in September 2020, the three farm laws have been projected by the Centre as major reforms in the agriculture sector that will remove the middlemen and allow farmers to sell their produce anywhere in the country.
Scores of farmers have been camping at Delhi's borders since November last year, demanding that the Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020; Farmers' (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020; and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020 be rolled back and a new law be made to guarantee minimum support price (MSP) for their crops.
—With PTI inputs
