Farmers’ Protest in Delhi: Farmers started mass protests last week.
New Delhi:
The government and farmers will hold talks again today to resolve the stalemate on controversial farm laws as protests across the country intensify amid growing support. Thousands of protesters camped around Delhi’s borders insist that the laws be repealed, and two rounds of talks this week failed despite repeated government guarantees on the minimum subsistence price for agricultural products. This is the largest farmers’ protest in years and numbers continue to rise on Delhi’s borders amid the new coronavirus pandemic, which has affected more than 95 lakh people across India.
Here are 10 developments in this great story:
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The protesting farmers had called for a nationwide lockdown on Tuesday (December 8). Last night when the union of 40 farmers met at the Delhi-Haryana border, they said they will block all roads to the national capital and added that they will also occupy all highway toll gates across the country.
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Today’s meeting, the third in a week, will take place at 2 pm at Vigyan Bhawan in Delhi. Thursday’s talks fell apart after farmers’ representatives made a 39-point presentation on the shortcomings of the controversial new farm laws. Before the massive protest began last week, the center had held similar discussions twice before, trying to convince farmers that the new farm laws are meant to bring about reforms.
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has defended the new laws, saying they only give farmers an option to sell to private buyers. After a seven-hour meeting on Thursday, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said “the government has no ego,” suggesting it is open to broadening the discussion.
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A petition filed in the Supreme Court on Friday sought the immediate removal or transfer of protesting farmers, citing the higher court’s ruling on protests against the center’s controversial citizenship law. “The lives of hundreds of thousands of protesting people at the Delhi borders are in immediate danger. If by chance this coronavirus disease takes the form of community spread, it will wreak havoc in the country,” the petition said.
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Thousands of farmers, encountering barricades, water cannons and tear gas as they marched into the capital, have cut off the main entrances to Delhi. Traffic has been disrupted on key highways near the borders with neighboring states: Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.
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Several Bollywood actors, sports personalities, political leaders and transport unions have demonstrated in support of the protest. Earlier this week, former Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal became the first to return his award in protest against the central government’s treatment of protesting farmers.
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Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee have openly criticized the government’s handling of the protests. The protests also sparked political disputes between Amarinder Singh and Arvind Kejriwal; Captain Singh has also repeatedly criticized Haryana’s chief minister, Manohar Lal Khattar, for the action against farmers.
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At least three deaths have been recorded during these protests and farmers said it would be “inhumane” for the center, given the cold weather, to prolong this further. The Punjab government announced on Thursday financial aid of Rs 5 lakh each to the families of two farmers who died during protests against the Center’s agricultural laws.
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Union Interior Minister Amit Shah has met with Defense Minister Rajnath Singh, Mr Tomar and Railway Minister Piyush Goyal several times this week on the issue. Last week, he offered to hold talks and told farmers to move to a location suggested by the government, an offer that was rejected.
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Farmers say the laws will deprive them of minimum prices set by the government and leave them at the mercy of companies.
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