NEW DELHI / BATHINDA: Seeking to increase pressure on the Center ahead of Saturday’s fifth round of talks, farmers unions opposing the new farm laws have called for a Bharat bandh December 8th. They will also go ahead with planned anti-government protests across the country on Saturday.
A decision on the bandh was made at a meeting of unions from Punjab, Haryana, UP and other states on Friday, with all voicing doubts about the outcome of the fifth round of talks. It was decided by voice vote that their representatives in the talks would ask the Center in advance to remove the laws and that it would do nothing less. “Otherwise, we can break up the talks halfway,” said HS Lakhowal, BKU-Lakhowal secretary general. BKU Dakonda’s Jagmohan Singh he warned of the blockade of “more border points with Delhi.”
You want a written guarantee on MSP on all crops: Kisan suit
The problem before the farmers, the agitators said, was not about a particular clause – the Center has indicated some amendments that do not go so far as to eliminate the laws – but about the direction in which the Center was taking agriculture in the country.
“The government, so far, has not eliminated the laws. As a mark of our protest, we will burn effigies of Prime Minister Modi across the country on Saturday, ”said HS Lakhowal, Secretary General of BKU-Lakhowal. “We also want a written guarantee on MSP on all crops and the insured purchase of crops by state purchasing agencies.”
The tightening of positions, even as agricultural unions prepare for talks, can be interpreted as pressure tactics, but if they persist with the demand, Saturday may not see any progress. Old CPM MP Hannan mollah, All India General Secretary Kisan Sabha said: “We have to move this protest forward in support of farmers’ demands. The government has to withdraw the agricultural laws. ”Both Lakhowal and Mollah attended the talks in Vigyan Bhawan on Thursday.
On the other hand, officials brainstormed the key objections raised in the fourth round of the meeting by farmers and kept their draft ready to bring in some changes as promised for consideration by the agriculture minister. Narendra Singh Tomar.
On video: Farmers call for ‘Bharat Bandh’ on December 8
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