Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Feb 15: The third round of talks between Union ministers and farmers demanding higher prices for their crops got underway on Thursday evening after two days of protests. Commerce minister Piyush Goyal, agriculture minister Arjun Munda and minister of state for home affairs Nityanand Rai were participating in the meeting with the representatives of 17 farm bodies.
Earlier talks failed to secure a government commitment to provide minimum support prices, which spurred the farmers to go ahead with their “Delhi Chalo” march.
The protest was started to pressure on the BJP-led Centre for farmers’ demands, including a law on a minimum support price (MSP) for crops and loan waivers. The Centre had made it clear The Centre had met it clear that announcing a law for guaranteed Minimum Support Price for all crops would not be possible off-hand.
The unsuccessful attempt by farmers to march towards Delhi entered its third day as they were stopped at the border of Punjab and Haryana states. They waited for the outcome of the talks, warming themselves with cups of hot tea and snacking on biscuits, as police looked on from a nearby bridge. A group of 100 farmers have volunteered to keep the peace while the talks were underway. “We are not planning to take any action until the talks with the government are over,” said Kamaljeet Singh, who was preventing protesters from moving closer to the police.
Earlier in the day at farmers’ mahapanchayat at Sisai village in the Hisar district of Haryana, the cultivators extended their support to agitating farmers and announced to take out their tractors and move towards the Khanauri border on February 18.
An emergency meeting of the Bhartiya Kisan Union (Charuni) took place in Kurukshetra where union president Gurnam Singh Charuni declared the toll plazas in Haryana, certain parts of Punjab, and Western Uttar Pradesh would be made toll-free on the following day, from 12 noon to 3 pm.
The union announced plans for a tractor march in every tehsil to express solidarity with fellow farmers protesting at the Haryana-Punjab borders. Charuni will also chair a meeting of all farmers’ unions, worker unions and other bodies of the state in Kurukshetra on Sunday to decide on the future course of action.
“I’m not going to join the protesting farmers in Punjab, but we will decide on February 18, how the protests can be taken forward in Haryana,” he said.
The Haryana government, meanwhile, extended the suspension of mobile internet services in seven districts till February 17 in view of the ‘Delhi Chalo’ call given by farmers’ organisations. This is the third time that mobile internet services have been suspended in the districts along the Punjab border. The mobile internet services were first suspended on February 11 morning till February 13 and were later extended for another 48 hours.
A home department order said the seven districts where mobile internet services will remain shut for another 48 hours are Ambala, Kurukshetra, Kaithal, Jind, Hisar, Fatehabad and Sirsa.
The three union ministers began their third round of talks with farmer leaders in Chandigarh, amid a standoff between the protesters and security personnel at two points on Punjab-Haryana border. Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann also joined the meeting. The meeting was held at the Mahatma Gandhi State Institute of Public Administration in Chandigarh.
Carrying luggage, while accompanying their little children, several commuters faced difficulties as the Singhu border remained closed for traffic for the third consecutive day on Thursday in view of the farmers’ protest. Some people also had to cross the Delhi-Haryana border on foot while carrying their little children in arms.
Sagar Singh, who was coming from Panipat and going towards Bawana, said, “I am going to see my ailing mother-in-law in Bawana. The current situation is not conducive to travelling at night or even otherwise.” Rohit Kumar was returning from Ambala to Delhi after attending a wedding. He said the authorities should provide a proper alternative so that the commuters do not face such kind of inconvenience.
The West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee slammed the BJP over the ongoing farmers’ protest, claiming that the party was running a “government of Ravan” at the Centre, which has crossed all limits of civility. While speaking in the Assembly, Ms Banerjee said she had decided to postpone her scheduled visit to Punjab to express her solidarity with the farmers.
“Farmers are protesting and the country is burning. But the BJP is not bothered. It is the government of Ravan, which has crossed all Lakshman Rekhas. The day farmers reach Delhi, the BJP leaders will understand the reality,” she said.
On Tuesday, farmers from Punjab faced tear gas shells at two border points as protesters tried to break past barricades set up by the Haryana Police to stop them from heading to the national capital. The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) and the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha are spearheading the agitation to put pressure on the Centre over their demands.
The Bharti Kisan Union (Ekta Ugrahan) and BKU Dakaunda (Dhaner) have declared a ‘rail roko’ (rail blockade) in Punjab and the Samyukta Kisan Morcha has decided to hold protests at toll plazas. The police have sealed the border with barricades, preventing farmers from travelling to Delhi on their tractor-trolleys.