Govt not having record of deaths during farmer protests an 'insult': Kharge

Slamming the Centre for not having a record of farmers who died during the agitation against the farm laws, Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge said it is an "insult" of farmers.

"This is farmers' insult. More than 700 farmers lost their lives during protests against three farm laws. How can Centre say that they don't have any record of it," Kharge stated.

Raising questions on the credibility of the government's data on COVID-19 deaths, he said, "If the government doesn't have a record of 700 people then how they had collected data of lakhs of people during the pandemic. Over 50 lakh people lost their lives due to COVID-19 in the last two years but according to the government, only four lakh people died due to the virus."

The Centre on Wednesday said that it has no record of farmers who died during the agitation against the farm laws.

In its response to a question on whether the Centre proposes to provide financial assistance to the kin of farmers who died during the agitation, the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare replied in the Parliament that it has "no record in the matter and hence the question does not arise."

On the third day of the winter session, the Leader of Congress Party in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury raised the issue of the death of farmers during the protest against farm laws.

Congress MP Manish Tewari on Tuesday moved an adjournment motion in the Lok Sabha "to direct the government to create a record of farmers who lost their lives during farm laws protest and give compensation to their families" terming it as a matter of "urgent importance."

Meanwhile, farmers' unions have demanded compensation from the Centre for the families of those farmers who died during the agitation.

Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rakesh Tikait reiterated that the farmers' agitation will continue as the government has not accepted their demands.

"Over 50,000 cases registered during the agitation should be withdrawn. MSP guarantee should be enacted. Farmers who have lost their lives should be compensated. These are our main issues. Government should talk," Tikait told ANI.