No repeal, says Centre; farm talks break down
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