Updated: December 9, 2020 2:55:33 am
Farmers on the Singhu border in New Delhi. (Express file photo of Gajendra Yadav)
ON One day when Bharat Bandh summoned by farmers unions saw a mixed response across the country, Interior Minister Amit Shah stepped in to resolve the crisis on Tuesday when he met with a delegation of 13 farmer leaders, but did not was able to get out of the deadlock. While the government offered to submit a proposal regarding the amendments it was willing to make to the new agricultural laws, the farmers adhered to their demand for repeal of the laws.
While the sixth round of talks with the Center was scheduled for Wednesday, peasant leaders said they would “not participate” and would first meet to discuss the government’s proposal. The Union Cabinet will meet on Wednesday morning.
Peasant leaders said the government’s offer to submit a proposal on the amendments indicated that it was not ready to repeal the laws.
Speaking to reporters after the nearly three-hour meeting, Hannan Mollah, CPI (M) leader and All India General Secretary Kisan Sabha, said: “At today’s meeting, the Interior Minister made it clear that the government will not repeal laws. He said that tomorrow the government will give in writing the amendments it can make … There is no room for amendments, we want to repeal the laws. We do not accept amendments, we want the repeal ”.
“We will inform you about the next round of talks after our meeting at the Singhu border tomorrow,” he said. “There is no possibility of meeting us again. There was no result in today’s meeting… we will not participate in tomorrow’s meeting. Tomorrow they will give a letter. But whatever they have decided to give us in writing tomorrow, we will not accept it. It is not a question of meeting again, ”Mollah said.
Speaking to The Indian Express, Mollah said: “The meeting was unsuccessful … We told him unanimously that we do not want amendments, we want the repeal of these laws. They said repeal is not possible, there are difficulties. We said we have no other lawsuit. “
“The leaders of all the farmers’ organizations will have a meeting at the Singhu border tomorrow at noon. If the letter is only about amendments, then there is no possibility of further talks… rishta khatam ho jayega, ”he said.
“Tomorrow there will be no meeting between the government and agricultural leaders,” said the president of the Haryana Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU), Gurnam Singh Chaduni. “The government will send its proposal tomorrow. We will discuss it and then decide if another meeting is necessary. Today there was no progress in the talks. The government offered amendments, but we want the repeal, ”said Chaduni.
Earlier in the day, confirming that Shah had called them to talk, peasant leaders said they would demand a “yes or no” answer. “There is no middle ground. We will simply demand ‘yes’ or ‘no’ from Interior Minister Amit Shah at today’s meeting, “said peasant leader Ruldu Singh Mansa at a press conference on the Singhu border, according to a PTI report.
This was Shah’s first meeting with farmers. The meeting, which began shortly after 8 pm, was held at the National Complex of Agricultural Sciences, Pusa.
On November 28, Shah had established a precondition, saying that the Center was ready for talks as soon as the farmers moved their protest from the Delhi borders to the Burari field. Farmers, mostly from neighboring Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh states, have been protesting on the borders of Delhi for the past 12 days.
The three ministers who have been leading the government’s consultations with farmers: Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, Food Minister Piyush Goyal and State Minister for Trade and Industry Som Parkash, also attended the meeting.
In addition to Mollah and Chaduni, the other farmer leaders who were present were Rashtriya Kisan Mahasangh’s leader, Shiv Kumar Kakka, and Bharatiya Kisan Union spokesperson, Rakesh Tikait.
“Some farmers unions asked why the government did not consult them before introducing these laws. The ministers admitted their mistake and said there was no point in looking back, ”Kakka said.
However, the meeting appeared to have created discord among the organizations leading the farmers’ protests. Joginder Singh Ugrahan, who heads the BKU (Ugrahan), said that he was not invited and that the 13 farmer leaders should not have attended the meeting. “It will raise a lot of doubts in people’s minds,” he said.
At a press conference in Singhu before their meeting with Shah, peasant leaders said they would push for the laws to be repealed. “We have a meeting with the Minister of the Interior and we will have to see what the result is. Our demands are the same from day one. We have had many meetings with the government so far, but nothing substantial has come out of them, ”said Chaduni.
Peasant leaders said they would consider a proposal to move their protest to Jantar Mantar, depending on the outcome of their meeting with Shah.
The last five rounds of talks have been inconclusive, as peasant leaders have taken a maximalist position and demanded the total repeal of the new laws, rejecting the government’s offer to reconsider some of the key provisions to incorporate their demands.
At the last meeting on Saturday, it emerged that the Minister of Agriculture, Narendra Singh Tomar, offered to amend some provisions of the agricultural laws and even agreed to give a written guarantee on the PEM and procurement, but representatives of the unions from farmers rejected the offer.
Farmers also demand a legal guarantee for the acquisition based on the minimum support price and the withdrawal of the electricity bill (amendment).
While some of your concerns can be addressed through executive orders, others may require amendments to the law. For example, to ensure samyata (level playing field) between APMC mandis and private markets, the amendment of Section 6 of the Trade in Agricultural Products and Trade (Promotion and Facilitation) Act 2020 may be required.
Similarly, an adjustment in the provisions of the Act will be required to allow disputes to be taken to civil courts. Under the law, article 15 establishes that disputes arising from transactions in alternative markets cannot be dealt with in ordinary civil courts. Instead, these must be mandatorily referred to conciliation boards and appellate authorities designated by local subdivisional magistrates and district collectors.
– With Manoj CG and Amil Bhatnagar in New Delhi; Raakhi Jagga in Ludhiana; Sukhbir Siwach in Chandigarh
© The Indian Express (P) Ltd
.
