No repeal, says Centre; farm talks break down
Says his govt stands by farmers; accuses Akalis, AAP of spreading lies on issue of highpowered committee on agri reforms
NEW DELHI: Union agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Friday told farm unions that the government would not repeal three contentious agricultural laws, and a proposal to suspend the legislation for 18 months was the best it could offer, leading to the collapse of a long series of negotiations just two days after an agreement appeared in sight.
No dates were announced for any further discussions.
Tomar said the dialogue process could only restart if the farmers reconsidered the government’s most far-reaching proposal so far, and asked the farm unions to inform the latter by January 23 if they were ready to change their minds.
The farmers, who have rigidly called for either a repeal of the laws or nothing, on Friday vowed to intensify their agitation — the biggest the Modi government has faced so far, and one that has seen tens of thousands of farmers from Punjab and Haryana camping on the Capital’s borders for 57 days. The farm unions stressed that they would be going ahead with a tractor rally in Delhi on January 26, but said they would do it after India’s Republic Day celebrations and not disrupt the official function.
“I am not an astrologer. I don’t know what will happen tomorrow,” Tomar told reporters after the 11th round of negotiations with representatives of a common platform for multiple farm unions. “This is the best we could have offered to the farmers.” The agriculture minister blamed unnamed “forces” for failure of the talks and criticised “people with vested interests who wanted the talks to be unsuccessful”.
“When an agitation is named after farmers, is related to farmers’ issue, and the government tries so hard to resolve it with one proposal after the other, then there is some force which wants to the agitation to continue so that farmers’ welfare cannot happen,” the agriculture minister said. “If there are other interests at play, then farmers’ interests can’t be secured. If farm unions have people who are interested in farmers’ welfare, then our proposal would have got considered.”
Tomar said he told the farm unions the government’s proposal (to put the laws on hold and form a committee to look into the farmers’ demands) was the “best we could have done”. The minister added that he urged farm unions to reconsider their decision because the offer of the government was in the “best interest of farmers and nation”.
On the question of whether the government would ever consider a repeal, Tomar said: “The government has always said farmers can ask for anything other than repeal.”
In the negotiations on Friday, there was hardly any issue left to discuss when farm unions told the government at the outset that they wanted nothing short of a full repeal of the laws as well as a new legislation guaranteeing assured prices for farm produce.
Leaders representing the Samyukt Kisan Morcha, a collective of farm unions on strike since November, told the government that the farm unions had collectively decided against accepting the government’s proposal to put the laws on hold.
The Modi government has pushed a set of agricultural laws to ease restrictions in farm trade, allow traders to stockpile large quantities of food stocks for future sales and lay down a national framework for contract farming based on written agreements. Farmers say the laws will leave them at the mercy of big corporations.
CHANDIGARH : Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Friday announced government job for a member of each family of the state’s farmers who lost their lives during the agitation against the Centre’s agriculture laws.
Announcing this during his Facebook Live interaction #Askcaptain, the CM questioned the central government as why it was hesitating to repeal the contentious laws. Rs 5 lakh compensation is already being given to the families of the deceased farmers, he said.
“Our government is with the farmers and would stand by them. All Punjabis are concerned about our farmers sitting at the Delhi borders to protest against the laws that were implemented without taking us into confidence. They are sitting there not for themselves but for the future generations,” he added.
“The sad part is that we are losing our farmers to the cold every day with at least 76 having died so far. The Centre should repeal the laws and then sit with the farmers to draft new bills after taking all stakeholders in confidence,” said Amarinder.
Hitting out at the Centre for pushing the laws through Parliament with brute majority, without any discussion, the CM said the entire country was paying the price for this. “Is there a Constitution in the country? Agriculture is a state subject under Schedule 7. So why has the Centre interfered with a state subject?” he asked.
To a question by a Ferozepur resident, he claimed that the Akalis and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) were spreading lies on the issue of the high-powered committee on agricultural reforms, as exposed by an RTI response.
He claimed that Punjab was not even included initially in the committee and it was only after he wrote to the Centre that the state was added. “But by that time the first meeting had already taken place without the state’s representation. The second meeting was attended by finance minister Manpreet Badal as financial issues were discussed. In the third and final meeting, no political leader from Punjab was invited and only the agriculture secretary attended it,” he said.
“People should ask the Centre if India is not a democracy anymore,” he said in response to a resident’s question.
On the National Investigation Agency (NIA) notices to some farmers and supporters of the agitation, the chief minister said it was a “wrong step” and he would be writing soon to the Union home minister over it.
Even the Khalsa Aid, a humanitarian NGO which is working across the globe, has not been spared, said the CM. “If you talk to Punjabis nicely and persuade them, they will agree to your suggestions, but if you pick up a stick, they too will pick one,” he said.
Stressing that representatives of almost all farm unions from across the country are sitting at the Delhi borders, the chief minister said the agitation was of the entire nation’s farmers and not just those from Punjab.
He recalled that farmers had been getting the minimum support price since 1966, with the Congress first introducing it, and nobody had any doubts about its continuation till now because of these farm laws which were aimed at “ending” the MSP and mandi systems.
“And if that happens, the foodgrain currently procured by the Centre for use in PDS distribution will also end. Who will then give food to the poor,” he asked