Amid ongoing protest, PM Modi to address farmers tomorrow in Madhya Pradesh

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will virtually address farmers in Madhya Pradesh on Friday via video conferencing as farmers' protests near Delhi- Haryana border against three central laws enter week 4.

The Prime Minister's address at 2 pm will be via video link and will be telecast to around 23,000 villages. Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, along with his other ministers, will also participate in the event from Raisen district.

The government's latest outreach comes amid strong remarks by the Supreme Court, which is hearing multiple petitions on the farmer protests on highways near Delhi.

The Supreme Court acknowledged the right of farmers to non-violent protests, and said it was thinking of setting up an "impartial and independent" panel of agriculture experts and farmer unions to resolve the impasse over three contentious farm laws.

"We acknowledge the farmers have the right to protest. We will not interfere. We



will ask the centre if the manner of protests can be altered to ensure citizen's rights are not violated either," the Supreme Court said today.

A bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde said it would set up the committee which may include experts like P Sainath and representatives of the government and farmers' bodies to look for the resolution of the deadlock over the statutes. 

But the court also told farmers: "People are going hungry in Delhi because of your actions blocking the roads. You have a right to protest. We are not going to interfere. Your protest has a purpose. And that must be fulfilled by talking to someone. You simply cannot sit on protest for years."

For two days, the Supreme Court has sought an urgent solution to the protests, saying they would "go national" if not resolved soon. Yesterday, the court had said talks had failed so far and suggested a panel including the government and farmers to work out a solution.