Farmers unions warned on Friday that they will begin to close all shopping malls and gas pumps in Haryana if the government does not resolve their main demands to repeal three new farm reform laws and a legal guarantee for the MSP in the next round of conversations on January 4. .
At a press conference at the site of the Singhu border protest, representatives of the farmers’ unions said that so far only five percent of the issues raised by them have been discussed in meetings with the government, describing multiple actions protest for a month if your main demands are not met.
Peasant leader Yudhveer Singh said that if the central government believes that the peasant protest will go the way of Shaheen Bagh, then it is wrong. “They (the government) cannot force us to leave this place like they did in Shaheen Bagh,” he said.
Hundreds of protesters had camped in Shaheen Bagh for several months against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and later the site was cleared by Delhi police after the coronavirus
Induced lock in March last year. At the press conference, peasant leaders made it clear that they will have to take firm steps if the government does not make a decision in their favor at the January 4 meeting.
The farmers ‘warning came even as Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said the government expects a “positive outcome” at its next meeting with farmers’ unions. Speaking to the PTI news agency, the minister said that the last meeting held on December 30, 2020, took place in a cordial atmosphere and there is the possibility of positive results in the interest of farmers and the country’s agricultural sector in the Next meeting.
After the sixth round of formal negotiations on Wednesday, the government and agricultural unions reached common ground to resolve the concerns of farmers protesting the increase in electricity rates and penalties for stubble burning, but both parties remained stagnant on the main contentious issues of the repeal. of three agricultural laws and a legal guarantee for MSP.
After the talks, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said that a resolution of at least 50 percent was reached with mutual agreement on two of the four agenda items and that discussions would continue on the remaining two on the January 4 at 2 pm
However, Swaraj India leader Yogendra Yadav said on Friday that the government has not moved one iota on the two main issues: the repeal of three farm laws and the legal guarantee of the minimum support price (MSP). He affirmed that the government has denied having made a commitment in principle to the issue of legal guarantees for MSP.
Explaining his next course of action, Yadav said that while talks with the Union government continue, farmers’ unions will simultaneously intensify the protest and take it to all corners of the country. “If the January 4 meeting with the government fails to end the stalemate, we will announce the dates to close all shopping malls and petrol pumps in Haryana,” another peasant leader, Vikas, told reporters.
At a meeting of Samkyukt Kisan Morcha, a body that brings together some 40 farmers’ unions protesting at various border points in Delhi, several decisions were made. According to the unions, rallies, dharnas, sit-ins and press conferences will be organized across the country from January 6 to 20 to counter alleged government propaganda that the protest was focused on Punjab.
Farmers will celebrate Women’s Day on January 18 and the modalities will be discussed later, farmer leaders said, adding that the programs will be held to mark the birthday of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose on January 23.
Thousands of farmers, mainly from Punjab and Haryana, are protesting at various borders in the national capital for more than a month against these three new laws. The government has presented these laws as major agricultural reforms aimed at helping farmers and increasing their incomes, but protesting unions fear that the new legislation has left them at the mercy of large corporations by weakening the MSP and mandi systems.
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