Centre's farm laws are meant to help BJP capitalists : Mamata

West Bengal Chief MinisterMamata Banerjee Tuesday alleged that the Centres farm lawsare meant to help a few businessmen like the Adanis who areits friends.These businessmen are BJP capitalists and once thethree farm laws are introduced, they will try to forciblypurchase crops from the farmers, she said at a programme here.Banerjee, who is also the TMC supremo, asked farmersnot to be scared and assured them that she will not allowanyone to torture them.BJP has a few friends like the Adanibabus who arecrorepatis, zamindars and capitalists.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Tuesday alleged that the Centres farm lawsare meant to help a few businessmen like the Adanis who areits friends.

These businessmen are BJP capitalists and once thethree farm laws are introduced, they will try to forciblypurchase crops from the farmers, she said at a programme here.

Banerjee, who is also the TMC supremo, asked farmersnot to be scared and assured them that she will not allowanyone to torture them.

''BJP has a few friends like the Adanibabus who arecrorepatis, zamindars and capitalists. They are big big BJPcapitalists who will forcibly purchase crops from the farmersand store them in big godowns already built in Delhi. And whenpeople will need the crops they will not give them,'' she saidinaugurating 'Mati Utsav' here.

''This is the reason farmers from UP, Haryana, Punjabare protesting against the farm laws, she said.

Assuring the cultivators of her and her party'ssupport, Banerjee said I have spoken to them over phonefour/five times. I had also sent my representatives there(protest sites) to talk to them. I want to clearly say thattill we are alive we will not allow any kind of torture of thefarmers.

I want to purchase crops directly from farmers. Dontbe worried, you (farmers) are the pride of the nation,Banerjee, a strident critic of BJP, said.

She alleged that the Centre is depriving cultivatorssin West Bengal by not purchasing the amount of paddy from themas it is from those in Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh andPunjab.

Elaborating, she said the Centre has purchased only76,000 tonnes of paddy from farmers of West Bengal though theyhad produced 2.5 crore tonnes of the crop.

''This shows how much the Centre has deprived thefarmers of West Bengal, she said adding that the stategovernment has purchased 49 lakh tonnes of paddy from them.

In West Bengal at least 73 lakh of farmers will bebrought under the state government's Krishak Bandhu scheme and55 lakh have been already enrolled under it, she said.

The scheme was launched by Banerjee in January 2019.

It will provide assured income and death benefits to farmers.