NEW DELHI: talks between the Minister of the Interior Amit shah and a select group of farmers’ representatives made no progress Tuesday night as union leaders insisted on their demand for repeal of three new laws and rejected the government’s proposed amendment.
Some leaders also threatened to boycott the sixth round of talks scheduled with the government on Wednesday at Vigyan Bhawan here, while others said their next course of action will depend on amendments the government secures in writing, which they claimed was promised by Shah. . at today’s meeting.
Another leader said: “There is no possibility of tomorrow’s meeting. Whatever you have decided to give in writing, we will not accept those amendments because we want the complete repeal of the laws. It is not a question of meeting again.”
However, some leaders who attended the meeting with Shah appeared to be in favor of the necessary amendments and guarantees on the minimum support price (MSP) regime and the mandi system rather than a complete repeal of the laws enacted in September, which indicates some kind of divisions between the unions.
After the meeting that ended around midnight, All India Kisan Sabha secretary general and leader of the CPI (M) Hannan mollah He said: “The Interior Minister has made it clear that the government will not repeal the laws. Shah-ji said that the government will give tomorrow in writing the amendments that the government wants. We will decide on attending the meeting after discussing the written amendments. with the 40 farmers unions “.
At the same time, he added: “We do not want amendments, we want the repeal of laws. There is no middle way. We will not attend tomorrow’s meeting.”
Mollah said the final decision on attending the sixth round of talks will be made at a meeting of union leaders at noon on Wednesday at the Singhu border, where thousands of farmers have been camping for the past 12 days demanding the repeal of the laws.
Following the fifth round of talks on Saturday, the Minister of Agriculture Narendra Singh Tomar He had said that the next meeting was scheduled for 11 am on December 9.
Tomar, Minister of Food Piyush Goyal and State Minister for Trade and Industry Som Parkash, who have been leading the government’s consultations with agitated farmers, were present at Shah’s meeting with 13 peasant leaders at the National Complex of Agricultural Sciences, Pusa.
Peasant leaders have asserted that the laws will benefit businesses and end the mandi system and the minimum support price (MSP) regime.
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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