Updated: December 10, 2020 7:29:36 am
Farmers on the Singhu border in New Delhi. (Express file photo of Gajendra Yadav)
Deepening the confrontation over the new agricultural laws, Farmers unions rejected the Center’s written guarantee on Wednesday. on the continuation of MSP-based acquisitions and parity in transactions inside and outside the APMC mandis, and threatened to intensify their protest by blocking more roads leading to Delhi.
The opposition also spoke out in support of the farmers, and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi told them “don’t panic … if you don’t stand up today, you will never be able to.” Gandhi, who led an opposition delegation to President Ram Nath Kovind, urged him to persuade the government to accept the farmers’ demands and repeal the laws.
“The government should not be under any misconception. Farmers will not compromise. Why … because they have understood that if they commit today … they will have no future in India. They have clearly understood that if they don’t stand up today … and I say this to the farmers … if they don’t stand up today, they will never be able to. We are all with you. Do not be afraid. No one can make you back down … you are India, ”Gandhi said when asked if farmers rejected the government’s proposal.
At the Singhu border, the leaders of Samyukta Kisan Morcha, a coordinating body representing various farmers’ unions, dismissed the government’s proposal, which reached them around 2.30pm, calling it “vague”.
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Rashtriya Kisan Mazdoor Mahasangh Chairman Shiv Kumar Kakka said the proposals contained nothing new that had not been featured in the five rounds of talks with the Center.
“We have already had discussions about the recommendations sent by the Center. And these had already been rejected. Once again, it was unanimously decided that the draft proposal will be rejected. The committee will accept any call for new conversations with the Center based on the proposals you send. For now, our focus is on escalating the turmoil, ”Kakka said.
A group of women volunteers calling on merchants to close shops and supporting farmers’ protest during the Bharat Bandh in sector 17 of Chandigarh.
Farmers’ leaders, including the president of the Bharatiya Kisan Union, Rakesh Tikait, also rejected suggestions of any divisions between the unions. Tikait denied having any role in organizing Tuesday’s meeting of 13 peasant leaders with Union Interior Minister Amit Shah.
Darshan Pal, president of Krantikari Kisan Union, said the committee had decided to boycott all Reliance and Adani Group products, and establishments such as shopping centers run by the two corporate companies.
He said the residences of the leaders, ministers and offices of the BJP will be gheraoed on December 14. On the same day, there will be dharnas at the district headquarters across the country, he said.
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In southern states, protests will continue indefinitely, Pal said. He said the Jaipur-Delhi highway will be blocked “on or before December 12”.
“Toll plazas across the country will be released on December 12,” Kakka said, adding that the committee will consider suggestions for crossing the borders of Delhi.
Kakka said that during the meeting with Shah on Tuesday, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar wanted to share details of the deliberations during previous meetings, a suggestion that did not find many stakeholders among farmer leaders.
Protest by various organizations protesting in the Plaza in Sector 17 of Chandigarh during Bharat Bandh against 2020 anti-farmer bills on Tuesday in Chandigarh. (Express Photo by Kamleshwar Singh)
“We said that there is no point in repeating what has already been discussed. They admitted that mistakes have been made and that farmers should have been trusted before passing the laws. We made it clear that the three laws must be repealed and MSP must receive the guarantee of the law, “said Kakka.
All India Kisan Sabha President Ashok Dhawale told reporters that the government’s proposal amounted to “insulting farmers”.
“It does not contain anything new. In fact, they have moved away from the guarantees made previously. The BJP and its corporate friends are facing the working class of this country today, ”said Dhawale.
Meanwhile, Rahul Gandhi, flanked by PCN chief Sharad Pawar, PCM general secretary Sitaram Yechury, CPI D Raja, and DMK leader TKS Elangovan, said they told the president that the agricultural bills were passed. without any “conversation” with the opposition parties, and without any discussion with the farmers, and it was very important that they be “withdrawn.”
Farmers protest in front of the Bangalore city train station. (Express photo: Darshan Devaiah BP)
“The way the bills were imposed, we see it as an insult to the farmers of this country. Farmers have lost faith in the government. The farmers do not believe that the government is acting in their interest and that is why thousands of them are on the streets, without violence and with compassion on the streets…. We inform the president that it is absolutely critical that these bills be withdrawn, ”Gandhi said.
Pawar said opposition parties had asked the government to refer the bills to a select parliamentary commission so they could be discussed in detail. “But sadly, not a single suggestion from the Opposition was accepted, and these three bills were rushed through. That is one of the reasons we started to get reactions from the farming community…. The political parties are not directly involved in this agitation in any way, but the agricultural community has realized that all these bills, ultimately, are not protecting their main interests, ”he said.
Meanwhile, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, speaking on The Indian Express brainstorming program, said farmers had been seeking a “yes or no” answer from the government.
“The government should give a yes or a no. Kendra sarkar apne hatdharmi chhore (the central government should renounce its inflexible attitude). If farmers don’t want change, why are they making changes by force? Neither the farmers nor the farmers’ unions nor the political parties had demanded it. You implemented it and if the farmers don’t want it, then withdraw it, ”he said.
“After that, if you want to make some reforms in the mandi law, there are many ways and possibilities for reforms, who is stopping you? But in the name of agricultural reforms … you have brought these bills … agriculture is a state issue, but you added the word marketing that has impacted farmers across the country. He did not take the consent (sahmati) of the states… If he had taken the consent (sahmati) of the states, this situation would not have arisen, ”he said.
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