Ready for talks, govt should come with new offer: Farmers
NEW DELHI: Protesting farmer unions Saturday said they are ready to resume talks with the government, but asked it to come up with a fresh proposal as the existing offer to put the three farm laws on hold for 12-18 months is not acceptable to them.
The unions, however, made it clear that they would not settle for anything less than the repeal of the three contentious laws.
Addressing a press conference at the Singhu border, Samyukta Kisan Morcha’s senior leader Darshan Pal said, “We are ready to talk. The ball is in the government’s court. We clearly told them that their last proposal (of suspending the farm laws for 12-18 months) was not acceptable to us. Now, they should come up with a new proposal.”
The Samyukta Kisan Morcha, an umbrella body of farm unions leading the protests at the city border points, thanked all global personalities for their support to the protests. He said the farmers have been on the agitation for “many months and many farmers have been martyred”.
“It is a shame that at the behest of the government, some people want to suppress this movement by calling it as an ‘internal matter’, but it is necessary to understand that in democracy, people are superior, not the government,” it stated.
The assertion comes in the backdrop of support extended by
The ball is in the govt’s court. We clearly told them that their proposal (of suspending laws for 12-18 months) isn’t acceptable to us. DARSHAN PAL, Samyukta Kisan Morcha leader
some global celebrities such as singer Rihanna and climate activist Greta Thunberg to the farmers’ protests against the three laws.
On the ‘chakka jam’, heclaimed it got a huge nationwide support which once again “proved” that farmers across the country are united against these farm laws. Pal also condemned Union agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar’s statement in Parliament on Friday. “He (Tomar) insulted the struggle of farmers of India by saying that only one state’s farmers are opposing the laws,” Pal said.