They pledged to intensify the uproar by organizing a ‘Delhi chalo’ and an all-India protest on December 14, a boycott of Bjp lawmakers and a blockade of the Delhi-Jaipur highway anytime before December 12 during which no toll booth would be allowed to charge any fees.
The leaders, hot on their heels, said they would settle for nothing less than eliminating the three recently passed farm laws that seek to increase the role of private trade in agriculture, encourage contract farming, and set a higher bar for imposing limits on agriculture. the existences.
The series of steps announced by agricultural leaders sets the stage for an intensified confrontation with the Center, even as the unions announced a boycott of Ambani and Adani products, the groups presented as symbols of the “corporatization” of agriculture.
The announcements also ended five rounds of negotiations with the Center, the last one with Interior Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday.
Agricultural leader Shiv Kumar ‘Kakka’ said there was nothing new in the amendments offered by the Center, adding that they had made their demands clear to Shah, who urged them to discuss the issues so that mistakes could be corrected. However, it was decided that there would be no rollback in the demand to repeal the laws, he said.
Government sources said that farmers had insisted on “maximalist” demands and that the Center had done its best to address the concerns with a genuine desire to solve the problems. “The agricultural unions have insisted on eliminating the laws, rejecting credible guarantees,” said a senior minister.
BKU Rajewal Chairman Balbir Singh Rajewal said: “We are firm in our position that we do not need amendments, we want these laws to be repealed.” He said they were accountable to thousands of farmers who had been assured that “we will not return until the three laws are repealed.”
Krantikari Kisan Union’s Darshan Pal said the fighting would now intensify and a ‘Delhi Chalo’ call would be issued to farmers in states near Delhi on December 14.
In its draft, the Center assured that it would give a written guarantee to continue with the minimum support price (MSP) and the APMC Act and empower state governments to allow private persons to work outside of APMC only after registering and paying the market rate. States would also be allowed to register entities that trade in food grains and that jurisdiction of the SDM to hear complaints would be extended to the courts.
Although the government’s note to the agricultural unions explained the rationale for the reforms while offering various amendments, the unions did not find enough concessions to end their 14-day protest at the Delhi borders. They said the borders of Delhi would gradually drown with the arrival of more protesters from various states.
“We reject the government’s proposals. We will intensify our agitation now. A call has been made to farmers in states close to Delhi like Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab and Haryana for ‘Delhi chalo’. In other states, ‘dharnas’ will continue indefinitely ”, Darshan Pal of Krantikari Kisan Union said.
Calling the government’s 21-page draft “an insult to the country’s farmers,” union leaders said they now had no choice but to intensify their protest.
“We told the interior minister during our conversation with him that we had already had five rounds of talks before. We said that if he had discussed the laws before presenting and passing them Parliament, this situation would not have arisen. He said the mistake could be solved together. We again demand a total repeal of the laws, ”said Kakka of Rashtriya Kisan Mazdoor Mahasangh.
After the farmers’ announcement to continue their protests, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar rushed to Shah’s residence to discuss the future course of action. Officials in the ministry of agriculture He said the draft of the proposal includes all the points that the government could make by introducing amendments.
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