Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday arrived in Varanasi to tell farmers camped in Delhi that his intentions were as pure as Gangajal and they were finding it hard to trust his government because they had been deceived so many times in the past.

“I can feel that decades of deception have created doubts in the minds of farmers. They are not at fault. But I want to tell my farmer brother and sisters, I want to say
from the ghat of the Ganga, I am saying from the holy city of Kashi that nowadays work is done with a holy intention as pure as Gangajal and not by deceit,” Modi told a gathering at Khajuri in Varanasi, his parliamentary constituency.

He said that in the coming days, it would be clear how farmers can benefit from the new farm laws that are at the centre of the agitation now.

Besides addressing the public meeting, the Prime Minister unveiled a road project, worshipped at the Kashi Vishwanath temple and took a ride along the ghats on a cruise boat.

Athira Murali, who has been sponsoring food for slum dwellers displaced by Modi’s visit, said: “This morning, officials visited the homeless people and took them under the Rajghat bridge. The authorities requested the people of Varanasi in general not to wear black clothes while venturing out of their homes.”