Cracks in stir after mayhem; farmers call off Feb 1 march OFFER ON TABLE, BUT ONUS TO TALK ON FARMERS: GOVT

NEW DELHI: Farm unions protesting three contentious new agricultural laws have called off a march to Parliament when the Union government will present its annual budget on February 1, but promised to continue their two-month-long agitation, even as divisions among protesting farmers started to surface a day after the tractor rally in Delhi on Tuesday turned violent.

Leaders of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha, the platform of farm unions leading the protests, on Wednesday apologised for the violent events in Delhi that have dented the credibility of the movement, saying the buck stopped with them since they had given the call for the tractor march on Republic Day. They, however, continued to claim that there was a “deep-rooted conspiracy” to thwart the agitation.

The Samyukt Kisan Morcha also held a series of meeting late into the night on Wednesday, its confidence shaken as it wondered how to carry on an agitation that had forced the Union government to offer a series of concessions, including a proposal to put the laws on hold.

It’s an offer government officials say is still available to the farmers, but that the latter will now have to make the first move.

Several key farm leaders were missing from the front ranks of Tuesday’s rally, which they should have been leading, and there appeared to be coordinated action by farmers at all three entry into Delhi.

NEW DELHI: Although the farmers’ protest march on Republic Day took a violent turn, government managers indicated on Wednesday that the Centre will keep its communication channels with farm unions open and its offer to put the three controversial agricultural laws in abeyance for 18 months will stay.

At least three government managers said that there hasn’t been any thinking so far in the government to withdraw the offer.

“The violence will be dealt with as per the law but talks with farmers can always continue,” an official said.

PTI Security personnel guard Red Fort a day after the monument was stormed by protesters.