AFTER ROW, KEY FARM LEADER SAYS WILL NOT MEET POLITICAL PARTIES

One prominent leader who is part of the platform of farm unions leading the ongoing agitation against a set of agricultural laws appeared to spell out a separate agenda for the protests, including talking to some opposition political parties, even as other unions say they want to keep the protests apolitical. He, however, backtracked later on Monday and offered a written assurance not to meet any party in future.

The Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), a platform of nearly 400 farm groups leading the stir, said that efforts by Bharatiya Kisan Union leader Gurnam Singh Chaduni to organise an “all-party meeting” on the farm laws were not authorised by it, and did not figure in its official agenda.

Just hours later, Chaduni, in a written statement to the SKM, said his meeting with the political leaders was a personal initiative to strengthen the agitation. The SKM accepted his clarification, a statement by the farm unions read.

The farm unions are on a strike since November to demand the scrapping of three contentious farm laws. The unions say the laws will hurt their livelihoods. A team of 41 representatives of the SKM has been participating in negotiations with the Union government. Chaduni also has been a part of the delegation.

“The Samyukt Kisan Morcha disassociates itself from the activities of Gurnam Singh Chaduni. His decision for an allparty meeting was never approved or authorised. It is his personal activity,” said Hannan Mollah, a key member of the Morcha’s “general body”, earlier in the day.

On January 17, Chaduni, an influential farm leader in Haryana and Punjab, met leaders of the opposition parties, including the Congress, Aam Aadmi Party and Shiromani Akali Dal in Delhi in an attempt to forge a larger political alliance against the laws.

According to Mollah, farm unions unanimously decided to keep their agitation “apolitical” and therefore Chaduni’s move was “not acceptable”.

NEW DELHI: