Bengaluru, Nov 19 (PTI) Former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda on Friday welcomed the decision to repeal the three contentious farm laws against which the farmers were agitating for over a year. "I welcome PM @narendramodi’s decision to repeal the 03 #FarmLaws. My salute to all the farmers who put up democratic resistance against the laws," the JD(S) supremo said in a tweet. Gowda underlined that debate and discussion are key in a parliamentary set-up. He also posted the copy of his speech he had made against the farm laws in the Rajya Sabha in September 2020. In his speech, the former Prime Minister said issuing ordinances to usher in such major reforms that affects millions of lives has sent a wrong message. Stating that the laws have naturally sown seeds of doubt in the farming community, Gowda had opined that the government should have engaged the primary stakeholders and communicated its implications in a language they understand. He had even said that the suspicions of the farming community was not misplaced given the history of reforms in India, which have hardly been farmer- centric. PTI GMS SS SS