Farmers Protest: Nitin Gadkari said there are "some elements" using the farmers' movement to defame them.
With no end to the deadlock between protesting farmers and the government even after multiple rounds of talks, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said the photograph of "a person who supports the Naxalite movement" was seen during the farmers' agitation against the three new farm laws.
"I'm not speaking of all farmers and farmer organisations, but I want to ask you something. In our Gadchiroli district, near Nagpur, in Vidarbha, a person who supports the Naxalite movement was investigated. The court also did not grant him bail. How did his photo appear in this movement? What is his link to farming and farmers?" Mr Gadkari told NDTV when asked about his stand that an attempt is being to mislead the farmers over the laws.
Mr Gadkari, who is the Union Transport Minister, said there are "some elements that are using this farmers' movement to defame them and take the agenda to another angle".
"Someone who gave anti-national speeches, someone who has no direct or indirect links with farmers, how did his photo appear? So I said there are some elements that are using this farmers' movement to defame them and take the agenda to another angle. This is not the agenda of farmers and farmer organisations. Farmers should stay away from that. That's all," he said.
The minister made the remarks when asked if the government could've held talks with farmers before the farms bills were passed, rather having having dialogue now after they became laws.
Last Friday, government sources alleged that the farmers' demonstrations were hijacked by the "ultra-left", drawing a parallel between the farmers' agitation and the Bhima-Koregaon violence near Pune in 2018.
Government sources blamed the "ultra-left" and "pro-Left Wing Extremist elements" for the farmers' movement taking a sinister turn.
They said there were "credible intelligence inputs" to suggest that the movement will spur incidents of violence, arson and damage to public property in the coming days. "Radical elements have advised farmers to block the Delhi-Jaipur highway," they said.
Farmers' groups instantly rubbished the allegations and maintained that their protest is apolitical and peaceful, rebuffing overtures from opposition parties.
Thousands of farmers have been camping on the outskirts of Delhi since late November demanding the government repeal the laws that they say will eventually dismantle the country's regulated markets and leave them at the mercy of private buyers.
They have rejected the government's proposals offering amendments in the agricultural laws.
Detractors of the demonstrations have drawn links between the protests to the separatist movement for a Sikh state of Khalistan and the anti-citizenship law sit-in at Delhi's Shaheen Bagh earlier this year.