New Delhi:

The IRCTC sent out nearly two crore emails between December 8 and December 12 to its customers listing 13 decisions taken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to support Sikhs, amid protests by farmers against new farm laws.

The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) emailed to its customers the 47-page booklet – “PM Modi and his government’s special relationship with Sikh” – as part of the government’s “public interest” outreach, officials said. The booklets are in Hindi, English and Punjabi.

The emails, which were discontinued on December 12, were sent to the entire database of IRCTC, where passengers key in their details while booking tickets, the officials said.

IRCTC denied reports that the emails had been sent to only Sikhs.

“The mails have been sent to all, irrespective of any particular community. This is not the first instance. Earlier also such activities have been undertaken by IRCTC to promote government welfare schemes in public interest,” IRCTC said in a statement.

“IRCTC sent out 1.9 crore emails in five days till October 12,” a source in the national transporter said.

Officials said the move to send the emails was a conscious choice as part of a communication strategy for public interest.

The booklet was released by Union Ministers Prakash Javadekar and Hardeep Singh Puri on Guru Nanak Jayanti on December 1.

Thousands of farmers, mostly from Punjab and Haryana, are protesting in and around Delhi against the new farm laws.

The centre’s offer to amend the laws has failed to convince the farmers to end their protests. They have demanded the centre to withdraw the laws.