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Dec 01, 2020

After Hours of Talks, Farmers-Centre Discussions Inconclusive; Protests to Continue

With the Centre's proposal to form a committee receiving lukewarm response, the two parties will meet again on December 3 to discuss the farm laws.
Leaders of various farmer organisations during a meeting with Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar over the new farm laws, in New Delhi. Photo: PTI

New Delhi: Talks between agitating farmers and the Centre remain inconclusive after a long meeting that started at 3 pm at Vigyan Bhawan in the National Capital on December 1.

Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar was accompanied by Railways and Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and Minister of State for Commerce Som Parkash, also an MP from Punjab, at the meeting.

The Centre proposed the creation of a committee of experts to look into the three farm laws and said that a few farm union leaders could also be a part of this committee. However, no major breakthrough on the formation of the committee has been communicated to far.

“The farmer’s organisations rejected the government’s proposal to form a five-member committee to look into the issues related to the new farm laws,” Roopsingh Sanha, member of Bharat Kisan Union (Ekta Ugrahan), one of the largest blocks of protesting farmers, told PTI.

At the meeting, according to Abhimanyu Kohar of the Rashtriya Kisan Mahasangh, farm leaders also condemned Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s statement from Varanasi, where he said that farmers were being misled by the propaganda of opposition parties. A press statement released by the RKM notes: “Farm leaders told the agriculture ministry that they have no trust in the Central government anymore.”

The statement adds that farmer leaders told the ministry that the ‘niyat and niti’ (intention and policies) of the prime minister toward the farmers was not right.

The Centre also requested farmers to end their agitation at the borders of New Delhi. Union leaders are learned to have said that the agitation will continue.

The government has called for another round of discussions on Thursday, December 3, union leaders told PTI.

PTI quoted sources as having said that the farmer representatives were unanimous in seeking that the three laws that they have  said go against the interests of the farm community, be repealed.

At the meeting, the Centre also asked farmers’ unions for a detailed critique of the laws, and for them to articulate their objections to the law in detail in the upcoming sessions.

On this, Dr Darshan Pal of the Krantikri Kisan Union, Punjab and a member of the working committee of the AIKSCC told The Wire that farmers will hold talks among themselves and decide if they want to go ahead and articulate their objections or stand firm on their demand of getting the laws rolled back.

“We have to think about this. We don’t know yet if we want a complete revocation or if we are ready for negotiations,” he said.

The protesting farmers have expressed apprehension that the Centre’s farm laws would pave the way for the dismantling of the minimum support price system, leaving them at the mercy of big corporates.

On Monday, late at night, agriculture secretary Sanjay Agarwal invited agitating farmers for a meeting with the Central government over the three new farm laws against which massive protests are ongoing on the borders of New Delhi since November 26.

The invitation was addressed to 32 farmers’ unions who have been spearheading the protests across Punjab for the last two months. The invitation has been sent to the same agitating farmers who have already met the Centre twice before. The last two long marathon meetings had ended with no clear resolution.

Also read: Delhi Police Stop Bilkis Dadi From Protesting With Farmers at Singhu Border

Currently, the pan-India farmers’ movement is organised at three levels. First is the 32 farmers’ unions of Punjab. Then, there is the AIKSCC at the national level with its working group consisting of 18 organisations. A couple of unions from the Punjab’s 32 unions are a part of the AIKSCC alliance. The third group is the Samyukt Kisan Morcha which is a coordination body between AIKSCC, Rashtriya Kisan Mahasangh, BKU Chaduni, BKU Rajewal and a few others.

Setting the ground on their own terms, the farmers’ bodies first rejected the invitation extended to them by home minister Amit Shah on November 28. According to the agitating farmers, the invitation sent to them by Shah had come with pre-conditions. The condition required farmers to shift their protest to the Nirankari Ground arranged for them by the Delhi Police and the home ministry.

The farmers’ bodies had accepted the December 1 invitation because it was ‘unqualified’ as they wanted it to be.

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