Farmers reject govt’s offer on panel, talks deadlocked
Next round of talks tomorrow; govt asks protesters to identify specific issues about agri laws and submit them today
NEW DELHI: Farmers protesting against a set of laws they say will hurt their incomes agreed, at a meeting led by three Union ministers on Tuesday, to continue discussions with the government later this week, but rejected a proposal from the Centre for a five-member committee of officials, economists and farmers’ representatives to hold future negotiations.
Farm union leaders from 35 organisations based in Punjab and Haryana met agriculture minister Narendra Tomar, railways, food and consumer affairs minister Piyush Goyal and minister of state for commerce Som Prakash for over three hours at the capital’s Vigyan Bhawan, as protests by thousands of farmers on Delhi’s borders entered the sixth day. The government and the farm leaders agreed to meet again on December 3 to for discussions, the government said in a statement.
Behind the scenes, the talks were facilitated by several rounds of phone conversations between Union home minister Amit Shah and key farm union leaders over the course of the past two days, which led to the government advancing the date of the talks, initially scheduled for December 3.
“We were initially reluctant for another round of talks. Home minister Amit Shah talked to us several times by telephone. We agreed on the ground that the government should rethink the three farm laws,” said Jagmohan Singh, a leader of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) and working committee member of the All-India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee (AIKSCC), the platform spearheading the agitation. The farmers did not agree to the government’s proposal for a committee to carry out future talks because “all 35 farmers’ leaders will have to be present in all future discussions”, said Balbir Singh Rajewal, a farm leader who leads the Rajewal faction of the BKU.
“During the deliberations, the Union agriculture and farmers welfare minister proposed to constitute an expert committee to put forth the issues of farmers so as to resolve them with mutual consent but the representative of the farmers’ union suggested that all the representatives will attend further round of discussions with the government to resolve the matter amicably,” an official statement at the end of the talks said.
The agriculture minister suggested that farm leaders identify specific issues related to the three farm reform laws and share these with the government on Wednesday for consideration. “These issues will be discussed during the fourth round of meeting to be held on December 3,” said an official, requesting anonymity.
CHANDIGARH : The Centre and Punjab governments on Tuesday told Punjab and Haryana high court that all the rail tracks have been cleared by the protesters.
Both the governments told the court that Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee (Piddi group) protesters in Amritsar too have vacated the rail tracks and are sitting in neighbouring parks etc. They have promised to allow goods trains but have not agreed to let the passenger trains pass through, additional solicitor general Satya Pal Jain told the HC. Punjab’s lawyer also maintained the same. However, the lawyer for protesters said that the tracks have been cleared and the farmers are sitting in a nearby park and now trains can be run.
Seeking directions to Punjab and Haryana governments to clear roads of protesters, one of the lawyers, Arvind Seth, also brought up the issue of farmers blocking the Chandigarh- Delhi highway near the national capital border and demanded that they should also be made a party to the case.
The high court bench of chief justice RS Jha and justice Arun Palli has adjourned the hearing until December 16. This plea pertains to issues raised by a number of petitioners to remove blockades on roads and rail tracks by protesters.
Meanwhile in the second hearing seeking the discharge of farmer leaders detained by the Haryana government last week, the latter apprised the court that all the farm leaders had been released. The court was also informed that the claims of the petitioner’s lawyer that farmers were being asked to deposit Rs 1.50 lakh as surety mount for securing release were wrong and only in one case a leader was asked to deposit Rs 50,000 in Fatehabad. In other cases, personal surety ranged between Rs 10,000 to 30,000, said Haryana additional advocate general Deepak Sabharwal.
The court has now asked Haryana to respond by December 18 to the issues raised by the petitioner, Haryana Progressive Farmers Union-Sabka Mangal Ho, in which the body is alleging that there was no justification for arrests and farmers have been treated like criminals.