Chandigarh, November 14
Amid the continuing stalemate between the Center and Punjab farmers unions, protesting farmers announced on Saturday that they would observe “black Diwali” against “black” farm laws.
Their one-day talks ended inconclusively in Delhi on Friday.
“We will light mashals (torches) on Diwali night as a sign of our sangharsh (protest),” said a statement from BKU Ekta (Dakaunda).
A day earlier, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh welcomed the positive spirit in which farmers’ unions and the Center held discussions on the muddle over farm laws and other related issues.
Calling it a constructive development, the Chief Minister said the meeting, for the first time, had allowed the two sides to speak in an open atmosphere and he hoped it would pave the way to break the deadlock on the issue.
The fact that both sides came to the table and agreed to find solutions suggests that they had reached a mutual understanding of the need to find solutions to the protracted crisis caused by farm laws, he said.
Citing media reports, the Chief Minister hoped that the internal discussions of the farmers’ unions on November 18, before another meeting with the central government on November 21, would help identify concrete ways and means of analyzing the various points. raised in extensive discussions on Friday.
Punjab, which has suffered huge financial losses due to the Covid-19 pandemic, has been severely affected by the current crisis triggered by central agricultural laws, said Amarinder Singh, who highlighted the need for an urgent resolution of the matter in the interest of the state and all sectors of its population. IANS