Social activist Anna Hazare late Friday cancelled a fast he had planned for Saturday against the Centre’s farm laws. He announced his decision in the presence of senior BJP leader and former Maharashtra chief minister, Devendra Fadnavis.
According to a report by NDTV, he told reporters he had received a letter that the government would increase the Minimum Support Price (MSP) offered to farmers by 50 per cent, adding that he had been agitating on various issues for a long time.
“It is not a crime to protest peacefully. I have been raising the farmers’ issue for three years, they die by suicide because they don’t get the right prices for their crops…the government has decided to increase the MSP (Minimum Support Price) by 50 percent – I have got the letter,” he said.
Hazare said that he had cancelled his fast scheduled for Saturday since the Centre decided to work on his 15 demands for farmers.
Hazare had earlier written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his decision to launch “the last hunger strike” of his life on farmers’ issues in Delhi by January end. Later on Thursday, he announced he would commence his fast on January 30.
On December 14, Hazare had written to Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, warning of a hunger strike if his demands including the implementation of the M S Swaminathan Committee’s recommendations on agriculture were not fulfilled.
Another demand made by him was grant of autonomy to the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices. “On the issue of farmers, I have had correspondence (with the Centre) five times, however, no response came. As a result, I have decided to go on the last hunger strike of my life,” Hazare had in his missive to the prime minister. He wrote four letters to the concerned authority to seek permission to stage his hunger strike at the Ramlila Maidan in Delhi but no response came from their side too, he had said.
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