NEW DELHI: One day before the crucial sixth round of government talks with protesting farmer representatives, Minister of the Interior Amit shah on Tuesday he met with a select group of union leaders in an attempt to break the deadlock.
Sources said 13 farmer leaders were summoned for the meeting, which started after 8 pm. Farmer leaders included eight of Punjab and five from various organizations nationwide.
Sources said the participating leaders included Hannan Mollah from All India Kisan Sabha and Rakesh tikait of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU).
Some farmer leaders said they first expected the meeting to take place at Shah’s residence here, but the venue was moved to the Pusa area.
The meeting takes on importance as peasant leaders have remained firm in their demand for the repeal of three new agricultural laws enacted in September, which they claim will benefit businesses and end the mandi system and the minimum support price (MSP) regime. .
“We will demand just a ‘yes’ or a ‘no’ from Interior Minister Amit Shah,” farmer leader Rudru Singh Mansa told reporters earlier in the day at the Singhu border where thousands of farmers have been protesting for the last 12 days.
A ‘Bharat bandh‘watched by farmers to pressure their lawsuit affected life in some states on Tuesday.
The government has maintained that it is committed to the well-being of farmers and has presented these laws as major reforms for their benefits.
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