At Friday’s 11th round meeting between the central government and farmers, the farmer leaders demanded the repeal of three new agrarian laws and guarantee a minimum support price (MSP) law. But remains as adamant as before. After the meeting, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said there were some forces that did not want the movement to end. At the same time, as of the last 10 rounds of the meeting, the date for the next meeting cannot be determined in the next 11th round of talks.
Thousands of farmers have been protesting on the Delhi border for nearly two months in protest against the new farming laws introduced by the Center. He believes the relevant laws are against farmers and on behalf of corporate institutions. The government today tightened its stance and said it was ready to convene again if the Farmers’ Union agrees to discuss a proposal to suspend the laws. Farmers’ organizations are now intensifying their agitation. He accused the government of misbehaving at the meeting.
After the meeting, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said, “Agricultural reform bills were passed in Parliament for the benefit of the farmers.” The movement is mainly carried out by farmers in Punjab and some farmers in other states. The government made several proposals to end the agitation, but no solution was possible when the sanctity of the movement was lost. Tomar said some forces wanted to continue the movement and that there would be no results. .
There are forces that want the movement to continue and do no good: Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar during eleventh round of talks between farmers’ unions and government pic.twitter.com/AmJVDxbZj6
– ANI (@ANI) January 22, 2021
At the last round of meetings, the central government proposed to create a joint committee to suspend laws and find solutions. Farmers’ leaders said after today’s meeting that although the meeting lasted five hours, both sides were sitting face to face for just 30 minutes. Farmer leaders informed the government at the beginning of the meeting that they had decided to reject the government’s proposal on Wednesday at a previous round of meetings.
Three Union Ministers, including Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, have asked representatives of farmers’ unions to reconsider their stand, and then both sides. The peasant leaders ineded their langar for more than three hours. During the lunch break, 41 peasant leaders discussed in small groups while three Union ministers waited in a separate room at the Science Hall. After the meeting, Joginder Singh Ugrahan, leader of the Indian Kisan Union (Ugrahan), said the talks had broken down as the unions rejected the government’s offer. The minister said that all possible options have been given to the farmers’ unions and that they should have an internal discussion on the proposal to suspend the laws.
According to sources, Tomar told the farmer leaders that the government is ready for another meeting if they want to discuss the proposal. The minister, who thanked the unions for their cooperation, said that while there was no problem with the laws, the government was in the process of suspending them in honor of the protesting farmers. Farmer leader Shivakumar Kakka, who left the meeting place, said there was no progress in the debate and asked the unions to reconsider their proposal. Kakka said he first walked out of the meeting, but that it was for some personal reasons.
In a previous round of talks on Wednesday, the government proposed to suspend the implementation of three new agricultural laws and create a joint committee to find a solution. However, following Thursday’s deliberations, the Farmers’ Union decided to reject the proposal and stuck to two key demands for repealing these laws and guaranteeing the MSP.
Farmers’ leader Darshan Paul said he had told the government that we would not agree to anything other than repeal the laws. But the minister discussed this separately and asked him to reconsider the case and issue a judgment. Rakesh Tikite, leader of the Indian Farmers’ Union (BKU), said, “We have made it clear to the government that we want to repeal the laws and not postpone.” The Minister asked us to reconsider our decision. Some leaders expressed fears that the agitation would lose its strength once farmers crossed the Delhi border.
Harpal Singh, President of the Indian Kisan Union (True Non-Political), said, “Even if we accept the government’s offer, our brothers sitting on the border in Delhi will not accept anything but the abolition of the law. What will we show them?” He said it was hard to believe he would stand by his statement by postponing the proceedings. “We will die here, but will not come back without repealing the laws,” Singh said.
Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, Railway, Commerce and Food Minister Piyush Goyal and Commerce Minister Somprakash held talks with representatives of about 41 farmer organizations on behalf of the government. Under the United Farmers Front, peasant leaders met on the Singu border on Thursday at a government proposal. Farmer organizations have been campaigning for the past two months to demand the repeal of agricultural laws under the same front banner. In a statement, Morcha said, “This meeting should completely repeal three new central farming laws and require a minimum support price (MSP) law for all farmers to benefit on all crops, as the main demands of this movement have been repeated.”
The Supreme Court on January 11 blocked the implementation of the three agrarian laws until further order and formed a four-member committee. At present, there are only three members of this committee because of Bhupinder Singh Mann, president of the Indian Kisan Union.
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