BJP MP Varun Gandhi on Sunday described the farmers who have been protesting against the three agrarian laws as "our own flesh and blood" and suggested that the government should intervene to bring them back to normalcy.
Posting a video of a large number of farmers participating in a Mahapanchayat organized by the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) at the Government Inter College Grounds in Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh on his Twitter page, Gandhi said: "Lakhs of farmers have gathered in protest today, in Muzaffarnagar. They are our own flesh and blood. We need to start re-engaging with them in a respectful manner: understand their pain, their point of view and work with them in reaching common ground".
The Mahapanchayat is being held ahead of next year's crucial Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections.
Meanwhile, the Centre had held talks with the protesting farmer unions but in vain as it did not agree to their demand of withdrawing the three farm laws.
The government insisted that these laws will give farmers a new opportunity to sell their agricultural products and rejected the criticism that they are aimed at doing away with the minimum support price regime and farm mandis.