Farmer groups met with three Union ministers on Saturday for the fifth round of talks amid ongoing protests over the Center’s new farm laws. Union Minister of Agriculture Narendra Singh Tomar, Minister of Railways, Trade and Food, Piyush Goyal, and Minister of State for Commerce Som Parkash, who is a MP from Punjab, are holding talks with representatives of 40 farmers unions in Vigyan Bhawan in the national capital. .
Talks between union ministers and a representative group of thousands of agitating farmers yielded no resolution on Thursday, as union leaders stuck to their demand for repeal of the three laws. On Thursday, farmer groups even refused the lunch, tea and water offered to them during the hectic nearly eight-hour speeches. Sources said the meeting started at around 2.30pm with Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh, who gave an introductory speech.
Outside the meeting venue, employees of the Indian Tour Carriers Association (ITTA), which has supplied vehicles for the transit movement of protesting farmers, were seen holding a banner reading ‘we support farmers’ and shouting slogans that support the agitation of the peasants. “I belong to the family of a farmer. I can relate to his fears. We had agricultural land in Mahipalpur and now you can see the T-3 terminal. We are supporting farmers protesting their cause,” the IITA president told PTI, Satish Sehrawat.
He said the association is providing transport facilities to farmers since their first meeting. Rajewal State Secretary General Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) Onkar Singh Agaul said: “Our demand is the same that the government should withdraw all three agricultural laws. We want the MSP to be guaranteed by law.”
He also sought the removal of the electricity amendment law and an ordinance on stubble burning. Ahead of the crucial meeting with protesting farmers’ organizations, Union ministers, including Rajnath Singh and Amit Shah, met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi to deliberate on proposals that would likely be made to the agitator groups, said the sources. Tomar and Goyal were also present at the meeting with the prime minister, they said.
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