Peasant leaders who went to Vigyan Bhawan on Thursday for their crucial meeting with the Center on the new agricultural laws are not accepting food or tea offered by the government, one leader told ANI. A video has also emerged of farmer leaders sharing food they brought with them. The video shows that union leaders came prepared for lunch, with boxes full of food and paper plates to distribute so they don’t have to accept government hospitality.
A delegation of 40 farmers arrived in Vigyan Bhawan early in the day for their second round of deliberations with the Center amid ongoing ‘Dilli Chalo’ protests, which began on the eighth day Thursday. Agitated farmers previously said they had come to Delhi for the protest with enough food grains in stock to sustain them for months, hinting that they will not give in unless their demands are met.
The first meeting was held on Tuesday to end the current stalemate due to the ongoing protest by thousands of farmers in Delhi and on the borders of the capital city. It did not materialize because the farmers ‘representatives rejected the Center’s proposal to create a committee to deal with the farmers’ issue. On Wednesday, the Union Minister of the Interior, Amit Shah, met with the Minister of Agriculture, Narendra Singh Tomar, and the Minister of Railways, Trade and Food, Piyush Goyal, to discuss the issue. Both Tomar and Goyal are present at the Vigyan Bhawan meeting, in addition to Som Parkash, who is a MP from Punjab and is also the Minister of State for Trade.
Before today’s Vigyan Bhawan meeting, Amit Shah also met with Punjab Prime Minister Amarinder Singh, who asked Shah to resolve the issue as soon as possible. “There is a discussion between the farmers and the Center, I have nothing to resolve. I reiterated my opposition in my meeting with the Interior Minister and asked him to resolve the issue as it affects the economy of my state and the security of the nation, ”Amarinder Sinh said after the meeting.
Farmers want a session of Parliament to repeal laws enacted in September, which the government had previously rejected. He had asked farmers’ agencies to identify specific problems that concerned them.
The laws have been enacted as major agricultural reforms that cut out middlemen, but farmers worry that the minimum support price (MSP) will become ineffective.
In a significant development on Thursday, Akali stalwart and former Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal returned his Padma Vibhushan award in protest against the Center’s agricultural laws.
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