The meeting between the Union Interior Minister Amit Shah and the farmers’ leaders protesting on Tuesday was delayed due to confusion over the meeting place. The meeting was scheduled to start at 7 pm, but started after 8 pm as some of the union leaders were not ready to hold the meeting at Amit Shah’s residence. Eventually the meeting moved to the office of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research.
According to PTI, 13 farmer leaders were convened for the meeting, which included eight from Punjab and five from various national organizations. Some farmer leaders said they first expected the meeting to be held at Shah’s residence here, but the venue was moved to the Pusa area, PTI reported. The national spokesperson for the Bhartiya Kisan Union, Rajesh Tikait, even arrived at Amit Shah’s residence around 7pm.
The meeting takes on significance as the intervention of the Union Interior Minister Amit Shah comes after farmers called a symbolic four-hour protest on Tuesday, prompting a mixed response across the country, but received support. massive political party of opposition parties and regional parties. On Wednesday, the farmers and the Center are scheduled to meet for the sixth time to discuss farmers’ complaints about farm laws enacted in September.
Before meeting with Shah, farmers said they will only demand a “yes” or “no” answer from Shah on whether the laws that farmers fear will make them vulnerable to exploitation by companies. “We will demand just a ‘yes’ or a ‘no’ from Interior Minister Amit Shah,” said farmer leader Rudru Singh Mansa.
At their last meeting with the Center on Saturday, the leaders observed ‘maun vrat’ and put up banners written with ‘yes’, ‘no’, leading to a deadlock and the Center asked for time to think about an alternative. proposal. Since the laws were passed in Parliament, farmers have raised concerns about the reforms, which the Center has called farmers-friendly. Since November 26, thousands of farmers from Punjab, Haryana started the ‘Dilli Chalo’ demonstration with their tractors and managed to enter Delhi. The protest entered its thirteenth day on Tuesday with no solution to the stalemate in sight.
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