Patna, Dec 2 (IANS): A protest meeting was held in Patna on Wednesday on the call of Left parties including the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation, in which they demanded the repeal of the Centre's three agricultural laws and burnt an effigy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Besides CPI (ML) Liberation, CPI and CPM, the meeting was also attended by leaders of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD). CPI (ML) Liberation General Secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya, RJD leader Alok Mehta, CPI leader Kanhaiya Kumar, state secretary of CPM Avadhesh Kumar and a large number of other Left leaders and activists were present on the occasion.

Holding huge placards, leaders of Left parties and the RJD raised slogans in the protest meeting in support of the farmers agitation and demanded the repeal of the three farm laws passed by Parliament.

After the meeting, the protest march from Buddha Smriti Park to Dakshala intersection was followed by an effigy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi being set afire.

Speaking on the occasion, Dipankar Bhattacharya said, "In the name of talks, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has insulted the farmers. There has been a kind of pattern that the government first suppresses such movements, propagates falsehoods, conducts suppression campaigns, but when the agitation does not stop, says that all this is happening at the instigation of the opposition."

He sarcastically said, "The government is claiming that farmers are not able to understand the agricultural laws. Will the farmers of developed states such Punjab now have to go to RSS branches to learn farming?"

"The Modi government and the Nitish government of Bihar are grossly anti-farmer. Today, the entire Punjab government is fighting against it. Tomorrow, the entire country will fight against the Modi government," said a Left leader. "The Nitish government talks big, but it eliminated mandis from the state in 2006. Today, the farmers of Bihar are in a worse condition," he added.