Tribune news service
New Delhi, November 30
The BJP-led central government has expressed its willingness to hold unconditional talks with farmers, party sources said on Monday, a fact that comes a day after farmers rejected the Center’s qualified offer to advance the talks.
Some leaders of the farmers’ unions also confirmed the development.
The will of the Center to soften its position comes as a result of an ongoing meeting that Interior Minister Amit Shah is holding with senior leaders of his party at his residence. Among the various BJP leaders present at the meeting is the Union Minister of Agriculture, Narendra Tomar.
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Both the farmers and the central government are conducting a series of internal strategic talks, the sources said.
Some leaders of the farmers’ unions were in contact with the BJP leaders, the sources said, and had agreed to further talks with the central government. This consent to hold more parliaments follows Shah’s promise of unconditional talks with farmers.
They were also allowed to continue their protest at their current location on the Delhi borders. The sources said they could be invited to the talks on Tuesday.
The development comes as farmers continued to protest on the Delhi borders for a fourth day over controversial agricultural reforms that Parliament had passed in September.
Tribune photo: Mukesh Tandon
Farmers, mainly from Punjab, have been holding protests led by 32 farmers’ unions since and earlier this month announced a march to Delhi called ‘Delhi Chalo’. Amit Shah had issued a statement two days ago that his government was scheduled to hold talks with farmers on December 3, but that those talks could move forward if protesters cleared roads and moved to a site designated for them by the Center. : a plot of land in Delhi. Burari.
The protesters, however, rejected the offer, opting to stay and calling for unconditional talks.
The central government says the laws are intended for the welfare of farmers, a view that farmers hold. Farmers fear the laws will weaken the APMC system, leaving them vulnerable to corporate interests.
Tribune photo: Mukesh Tandon
‘You are being deceived’
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi repeated once again that the laws would benefit farmers.
As the protests refused to abate, Modi repeated his government’s position: that the laws were intended for the well-being of farmers and would help increase their income. He also claimed that farmers were being “misled” — a claim that various BJP leaders — including the prime minister himself — have made repeatedly in the past, much to the criticism of protesters.
Read also: Concrete barriers are erected on the border between Delhi and Ghaziabad as more farmers join the protest
“If some farmers doubt the government’s intentions, it is because of the lies they have been given for decades,” he said in a series of tweets on Monday.
