Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Dec 22: Even as the agitating farmers’ unions deferred till Wednesday a final decision on their response to the centre’s invitation for another round of talks, the indications available on Tuesday hints at the government’s renewed effort coming to naught with some union leaders branding the move as a “way to trick the farmers.”
They disagreed that the union agriculture ministry’s letter on Sunday inviting them for talks at a date of their choice was not a “step forward but only a way to trick the farmers.” Pointing out that the government agreeing to bring about “necessary amendments” to the acts proved that the laws were flawed, he leaders said “we don’t seek amendments in the laws but want these to be shunned completely.”
“Government has decided its position regarding the farm laws that they’ll not be withdrawn. They released a letter stating that if farmers want amendments in these laws, they want date and time for discussion,” Sarwan Singh Pandher of the Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee said on Tuesday at the Singhu border, which has emerged as the epicentre of these protests.
As the protest against the three acts entered the 27th day on Tuesday, the union leaders said, “This is not a step forward by the government but a way to trick farmers. A normal person would think that farmers are stubborn but the fact is that we don’t seek amendments in farm laws, we want them to be completely shunned,” Pandher said.
Farmers groups under the AIKSCC said they would take a call on the Centre’s letter inviting them for another round of talks after a meeting on Wednesday.
In a reiteration of the centres’s readiness to resolve the dispute through negotiations, the union agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar while interacting with international media from the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of South Asia on Tuesday said the Centre was ready to continue talks with the farmers protesting at Delhi borders, ‘clause by clause, with an open mind’. Tomar said the agriculture sector was the backbone of the Indian economy and under the leadership of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi the focus would be on doubling farmer’s income by 2022.
Ater five rounds of talks, including one each on December 1, 3 and 5 could not break the deadlock between the two sides, the government had written to farmers’ unions on Sunday inviting them for the sixth round, asking them to choose a date that is “convenient” to them. The government has made it clear that it won’t repeal the three laws, passed under controversial circumstances in September, with the farm unions adamant on a total repeal.
Thousands of farmers have been protesting against these laws on the borders of Delhi since last week of November and have repeatedly stressed that they have come prepared “for a long haul.”
Meanwhile, a group of farmers protesting against the Centre’s new agri laws on Tuesday showed black flags to Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar when his convoy was passing through Ambala City, sources said. Some of the farmers allegedly tried to block Khattar’s motorcade but police managed to provide a safe passage to the chief minister, sources said. Khattar had come to Ambala to address public meetings in support of party’s mayoral and ward candidates for the upcoming civic bodies polls.
Accusing the central government of resorting to “downright falsehoods to malign the farmers’ struggle,” the AITUC said the measures were all for the benefit of its “corporate masters.” Amarjeet Kaur, General Secretary of the AITUC in a statement pointed out that the trade unions of the country have been supporting the demand of repeal of three agri laws, the Electricity (Amendment) Bill, 2020 as well as the forced codification of labour laws without any proper consultations with the unions or any discussion inside the Parliament.
Kaur said the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) and its associate unions will observe 23 December as “Skip Lunch” day to express solidarity with the relay hunger strike by farmers. “AITUC Unions to observe 23rd December as ‘Skip Lunch’ day to express solidarity with the relay hunger strike by the joint front of Kisan organisations. We support the farmers’ demand for a law ensuring Minimum Support Price (MSP) for farm produce,” Kaur said.