No Record of Farmers killed in Farm Law Protests: Union Government

Delhi: The Centre has said that the government has no "record" of the farmers who died during the protests against the three controversial farm laws. 

The details were stated by Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Tomar in a written reply at the winter session.

When questioned on the data of deaths at protest sites near the Delhi border and if the government is planning to provide financial relief to the affected families, Tomar told Lok Sabha,"(The) Ministry of Agriculture has no record in the matter, and hence the question (of aid) does not arise."

This statement may trigger an attack from the opposition concerning the centre’s remark in parliament during the second Covid wave on ‘no oxygen deaths’ data.

Opposition and farmer leaders have said that more than 700 farmers have died during the year-long protests at the Delhi borders against the contentious laws that were cancelled on Monday in parliament. The bill gave been one of the fastest repeals witnessed by the nation.

Rahul Gandhi was the strongest critics to attack the centre over not being open to a discussion. "We wanted to discuss MSP (issue), we wanted to discuss the (UP) Lakhimpur Kheri incident, we wanted to discuss the 700 farmers who died in this agitation, and unfortunately that discussion has not been allowed," Mr Gandhi said.

The rollback came ten days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered an "apology to the nation", making the big repeal announcement. "While apologising to the nation, I want to say with a sincere and pure heart that maybe something was lacking in our Tapasya (dedication) that we could not explain the truth to some of our farmer brothers," he said last month.

"The Centre has asked for five names from the SKM (Samkyukt Kisan Morcha) for the committee that will deliberate on the issue of minimum support price (MSP) for crops. We have not yet decided on the names. We will decide this in our meeting on Saturday," SKM leader Darshan Pal told news agency PTI on Tuesday.