NEW DELHI: Following their key demand for the repeal of three farm laws to end their protest, peasant leaders told the government on Friday that their “ghar wapsi” can only occur after the “wapsi law,” but the Center He insisted that the talks should be limited to contentious clauses and ruled out a complete withdrawal of the acts.
In the eighth round of negotiations with the representative group of 41 protesting farmers, the government stated that the land reform laws had been well received by a large section of farmers in several states and asked the unions to think about the interests of the whole country.
The talks were inconclusive and the two sides agreed to meet for the next round of discussions on January 15.
Trade union agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar, rail, trade and food minister Piyush Goyal, and state trade minister Som Parkash, who is a Parliamentarian from Punjab, held talks with unions in Vigyan Bhawan, in the heart of the national capital, while thousands of farmers have stayed at various borders in Delhi to protest against the three laws they consider business-friendly and against the existing mandi and MSP procurement systems.
At first, Tomar appealed to the unions to discuss the laws, while agricultural leaders reiterated their demand that the new laws should be withdrawn, the sources said, adding that the agriculture minister emphasized protecting the interests of farmers from the whole country.
“Our ‘ghar wapsi’ (return home) can happen only if ‘law wapsi’ (repeal of laws) is done,” said a peasant leader at the meeting.
“Ideally, the Center should not interfere in agricultural matters, as several Supreme Court orders have declared agriculture a state issue. It seems that you (the government) do not want to solve the problem, as talks are taking place. held for so many days. case, please give us a clear answer and we will go. Why waste everyone’s time? “said another peasant leader at the meeting.
Kavitha Kuruganti, a member of the All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee (AIKSCC), who was also present at the meeting, said the government has told unions that it cannot and will not repeal these laws. About an hour after the meeting, the three ministers left the discussion room for their own internal consultations, after union leaders decided to keep quiet while holding papers with slogans that included ‘Jeetenge ya Marenge’ (Either we win or we die) .
However, the union leaders refused to take a lunch break and stayed in the meeting room, a source said.
Before the start of the meeting, Tomar had also met with BJP leader and Interior Minister Amit Shah for about an hour.
On January 4, the seventh round of talks ended inconclusively, as the unions maintained their demand for the total repeal of three agricultural laws, while the government wanted to discuss only the “problematic” clauses or other alternatives to end the deadlock. .
Before that, in the sixth round of talks held on December 30 last year, a common ground was reached on two demands: the decriminalization of stubble burning and the continuation of energy subsidies.
Hours earlier, the Union’s minister of state for agriculture, Kailash Choudhury, expected a resolution to come out of Friday’s meeting.
Choudhury also said that there was no lawsuit for the repeal of the three farm laws in the first meeting and this lawsuit came much later.
Just before the meeting, Kuruganti had said: “If no solution comes at today’s meeting, we will continue with our tractor rally plan on January 26.”
“Our main claim is the repeal of the laws. We will not accept any amendment. The government is taking it as a matter of prestige and is not withdrawing the laws. But this is a matter of life and death for all farmers. There is no change at our stand from the beginning, ”he added.
The agitating farmers held tractor rallies on Thursday to press their demand for a rollback of the laws, while the Center said it was ready to consider any proposal other than repeal of the laws.
Thousands of farmers, mainly from Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh, have been protesting at various border points in Delhi for more than a month against the three laws, despite the cold weather and heavy rains.
Enacted in September 2020, the government has presented these laws as important agricultural reforms aimed at increasing farmers’ incomes, but protesting farmers have expressed concern that these laws would weaken minimum price support (MSP) systems and “mandi” (wholesale market). and leave them at the mercy of the big corporations.
The government has maintained that these apprehensions are out of place and has ruled out a repeal of the laws.
While various opposition parties and people from outside have come out in support of farmers, some farmer groups have met with the agriculture minister in recent weeks to extend their support for the three laws.
The government had sent a draft proposal to protesting farmers’ unions last month, suggesting seven or eight amendments to the new laws and a written guarantee on the MSP’s procurement system.
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