'Farmers Aren't Criminals': MS Swaminathan's Daughter Speaks Out on Crackdown

Madhura Swaminathan's statement comes days after the Centre announced the Bharat Ratna for her late father.

Amid reports of tear gas shells and other measures being used to block the protesting farmers, Madhura Swaminathan, who is a developmental economist and daughter of late agricultural scientist MS Swaminathan, on Tuesday, 14 February, said that "our farmers cannot be treated like criminals."

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

Amid reports of tear gas shells and other measures being used to block the protesting farmers from entering the national capital, Madhura Swaminathan, who's a developmental economist and daughter of agricultural scientist MS Swaminathan, on Tuesday, 14 February, said that "our farmers cannot be treated like criminals."

You can follow all the live updates from the farmers' protest here.

Madhura was addressing a gathering organised by the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, Pusa, to honour the Bharat Ratna for her late father.

“The farmers of Punjab today are marching to Delhi. I believe, according to the newspaper reports, there are jails being prepared for them in Haryana, there are barricades, there are all kinds of things being done to prevent them. These are farmers. They are not criminals.”

Farmers have been marching to Delhi with various demands, one of them being a guaranteed minimum support price (MSP) law as per recommendations by the Swaminathan Commission.

She also shared MS Swaminathan's statement when the farm laws were repealed in November 2021. He had said, "I am happy with the announcement today. I emphasise that C2+50% is the core of the reports of the National Commission on Farmers. The future of our agriculture depends on the impact we can make on three fronts: production, procurement, and prices. These should be attended to concurrently."