Amit Shah met with top BJP leaders last night on farmers’ issues.
New Delhi:
Interior Minister Amit Shah, Defense Minister Rajnath Singh and Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar met last night at the Delhi home of BJP chief JP Nadda, sources said, hours after they farmers protesting in and around the national capital will reject the center’s proposal to hold early talks to discuss their complaints. The government held talks about the protests of thousands of farmers that began last week. The meeting reportedly lasted more than two hours.
Amid mass protests against the three controversial farm laws, Amit Shah said on Saturday that the government was ready to deliberate on “all the problems and demands.” However, the interior minister had said that the protest would have to be moved to a designated location if the farmers wanted to have early talks with the government; talks are scheduled for December 3.
During the meeting, top BJP leaders also discussed the confrontation between Haryana and Punjab Chief Ministers, ML Khattar and Captain Amarinder Singh, in recent days over agricultural laws and the handling of protests after farmers They began their march to Delhi last week and crossed the borders of the three states, the sources said.
In recent days, protesters have faced water cannons, tear gas and police barricades.
When the protests entered the fourth day, the farmers, after a meeting on Sunday morning, said that the government should have approached with “an open heart” and no preconditions. The government’s offer was rejected out of fear that the protest sites suggested by the center would turn into prisons, a concern that began after Delhi police requested permission from the Arvind Kejriwal government to convert the stadiums into prisons for protesters .
Farmers also threatened to block roads to Delhi from five points of entry. “We decided that we will never go to Burari Park (protest site suggested by the government) because we got proof that it is an open jail. Delhi police told the head of the Uttarakhand Farmers Association that they would take them to Jantar Mantar but in Instead, he locked them up in Burari Park, “Surjeet Phul, president of the Bharatiya Kisan Union, told reporters on Sunday.
“Instead of going to open the jail in Burari, we have decided that we will do gherao in Delhi blocking five main entry points to Delhi. We have four-month rations with us, so there is nothing to worry about. Our Operations Committee will decide everything, “he added.
The protest, scheduled for more than two months, has the support of 500 farmers’ organizations.
According to the government, the new laws will cut out middlemen and improve farmers’ profits by allowing them to sell products anywhere in the country. Farmers and opposition parties, however, argue that the laws will deprive farmers of a guaranteed minimum price for their produce and leave them at the mercy of companies.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his monthly “Mann Ki Baat” radio address, said on Sunday that the centre’s reforms in the agricultural sector have opened “many more opportunities” for farmers and met their long-pending demands. .
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