Talks between the Centre and farmer unions against the brand new agriculture legal guidelines remained inconclusive Monday over two key calls for — repeal of the newly enacted legal guidelines and provision of authorized assure on the minimal assist worth — with the 2 sides drawing the laborious line on their respective positions.
The talks will resume on January 8 when the 2 sides sit throughout the desk for what would be the eight spherical of negotiations ever for the reason that protests that introduced farmers from Punjab and Haryana to the gates of Delhi on November 26.
Meanwhile, two Punjab BJP leaders, Surjeet Kumar Jyani and Harjeet Singh Grewal, who’ve been in mediation with the farmers, can be assembly the Prime Minister Tuesday night.
Jyani mentioned: “Grewal and I had sought time from the PM. He has called us to his camp office at 5.45 pm Tuesday.” Jyani is chairman of an eight-member panel of BJP leaders, together with Grewal, coordinating with the farmer unions. In Delhi since November 28, they returned to Punjab a couple of days in the past.
Emerging from the assembly with the unions Monday, Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar informed reporters, “We wanted a clause-wise discussion on the laws, so that we could proceed on the way forward. The discussion was mainly centred on this. We discussed the issue of MSP briefly, but could not arrive at a decision. Therefore, the government and the unions decided to meet again on January 8 to take the discussions forward.”
“The meeting was cordial but could not find a way forward as they (farmer leaders) were adamant on the demand for repeal of the Acts. But I hope the way the discussions took place today, meaningful deliberations will again take place at the next meeting and, possibly, we will find a solution,” he mentioned.
“Swabhavik roop se raasta nikalne ke liye toh taaliyaan donon hi haath se bajaate hain na (Naturally, we have to meet half-way to find a way forward) … The legal aspect of the problem and the entire country needs to be kept in mind. There are crores of farmers in the country and they have their own views. Their interests are linked to the advantages or disadvantages of the laws. The government is committed to farmers across the country. Therefore, when the government has to decide, it will keep in mind the entire country,” he mentioned in response to questions.
Farmer union leaders mentioned they made it very clear to the federal government that the talks must be on their demand for repeal of the brand new legal guidelines.
BKU (Ugrahan) president Joginder Singh Ugrahan mentioned: “Today, we became very strict when we were told again to discuss the benefits of the farm laws. We told them we had said earlier as well that our talks will only be on the repeal of the Acts, nothing else. They told us that farmers in the rest of the country are happy. At this, we asked them what they think of people who have been sitting on roads since September. Nearly 500 farmer unions of India are protesting, don’t they recognise any of them?”.
“The next meeting is on January 8. Talks will only be on the repeal and guarantee on MSP. We told them that if they don’t want to discuss this issue, they should not call us. But after a detailed discussion, they asked us to come again on January 8. We even told them to make the main decision-making authority sit at the meeting, one who can decide the matter. They did not respond to this,” he mentioned.
Kirti Kisan Union common secretary Rajinder Singh Deepsinghwala mentioned: “Today, the Union Ministers observed a two-minute silence with us in memory of 70 farmers who have left us (died) during morchas since September. We call them martyrs… The government wants to discuss the laws with us clause-wise, but we have one line for them: no appeal, no daleel, only repeal. The government said they have walked ten steps forward and we too should move a little, but we rejected it categorically.”
Punjab Kisan Union president Ruldu Singh Mansa mentioned: “Although the meeting today did not yield a result, we could judge that the government’s attitude was soft. We told them to discuss only the repeal of the Acts at the next meeting. We are hopeful they will walk only in that direction.”
BKU (Dakaunda) president Buta Singh Burjgill mentioned: “The Agriculture Minister told us that majority farmer unions are happy with the farm laws. We told them to arrange our meeting with them. They gave no answer. We call these unions part of the kisan cells of the BJP and alliance parties.”
All Indian Kisan Sabha common secretary Hannan Mollah mentioned: “We told the government that there will be no talk except on the repeal (of farm laws) … We will discuss the repeal first. The issue of MSP will be taken up thereafter.”At the assembly, Tomar together with two ministerial colleagues — Food Minister Piyush Goyal and Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Som Prakash — led the federal government aspect whereas farmer unions had 41 representatives.
At their final assembly on December 30, the Centre agreed to “decriminalise” stubble burning by excluding farmers from the ambit of the ‘Commission for the Air Quality Management in National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas Ordinance 2020’, and drop these provisions of the draft Electricity Amendment Bill, 2020, which intend to vary the present mode of subsidy fee to customers.
The Samyukt Kisan Morcha, the umbrella physique of farmer unions tenting on the gates of Delhi to press their calls for, informed the press final Saturday that if their calls for should not met by January 26 – British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is to be chief visitor on the Republic Day celebrations this 12 months – farmers will lead a tractor parade into Delhi.
