Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Dec 26: As one more ally Rashtriya Loktantric Party (RLP) left the NDA after Shiromani Akali Dal quit the conglomeration in September over the farm laws, the farmers’ union leaders on Saturday favourably responded to the central government’s offer for talks setting December 29 for the resumption of the deliberations.
The Samyukta Kisan Morcha, the umbrella organization of the 40 farmers’ unions protesting at various points on borders of Delhi, however, told the government that the talks would have to be on the agenda suggested by the famers, the first of which would be “Modalities to be adopted for the repeal of the three Central Farm Acts.”
The decision to accept the government’s offer for talks was taken after a meeting of the 40 union leaders held on Saturday. The union agriculture department joint secretary Vivek Aggarwal had in a letter to the farmers’ leaders on December 24 offered to resume talks “with an open mind” to break the deadlock “at the date, time and agenda” fixed by the farmers.
“The decision was taken at a meeting of Samyukta Kisan Morcha,” Bharatiya Kisan Union senior leader Rakesh Tikait said. The unions have decided that “the modalities for the repeal of three farm laws and guarantee for MSP (minimum support price at which the government procures crops from farmers) should be part of the agenda for talks with the government,” Tikait said.
While the government has presented these laws as major reforms aimed at helping farmers, protesting unions have maintained these Acts will leave them at the mercy of big corporates by weakening the mandi and MSP systems.
The agricultural experts have expressed doubts over the success of the sixth round of talks because echoing the sentiments of the prime minister Narendra Modi, the centre has already made it abundantly clear that there was no question of repealing the three acts and that it was also adverse to hold talks on the legalities of the MSP which the government did not intend to change.
The two other conditions set by the Morcha was on amendment to the Electricity Duty and amending the national capital air quality acts to remove penal provisions against farmers for burning stubbles.
While writing the letter to Aggarwal accepting his offer for talks, the farmer leaders also made it clear that on December 30 all tractors will march from one border to the other and said if the issues were not resolved by the year-end, they “will make a big announcement by January 1.”
Speaking from Singhu border, Swaraj Abhiyan leader Yogendra Yadav said “as you know a letter diplomacy is going on because the aim of the government is to lob the ball in our court”.
Yadav said the last two letters by Joint Secretary Vivek Aggarwal have half truths and same ‘chalakis’. “We are always ready to talk with an open mind,” Yadav said.
According to Darshan Pal, they have given a general call for agitation and protest across the country, including ban on Ambani-Adani products.
The toll plazas will also remain free and on December 27 and 28, the martyrdom day of Sahibzade of Guru Gobind Singh will be observed at all the five borders.
Following is the full text of the letter sent by Morcha to the government:
To: Date: 26th Dec. 2020
Shri Vivek Aggarwal,
Joint Secretary,
Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare,
Government of India.
Subject: Re Ongoing negotiations between farmers’ organisations and Govt of India to repeal the three Central Farm Acts
Dear Shri Aggarwal,
This is in response to your letter (09/2020) dated 24th December 2020.
Unfortunately, your letter continues the governments’ attempt to mislead the public by suppressing true facts about the deliberations in the previous meetings. We have consistently demanded the repeal of the three Central Farm Acts, whereas the government has distorted our position as if we were asking for amendments to these Acts. If you are sincere about respectfully listening to the farmers, as you say in your letter, the government must not indulge in misinformation about the previous meetings. The campaign launched by the entire state machinery to defame and malign the farmers’ movement must stop forthwith.
Be as it may, since you are willing to hold a meeting on date, time and issues of our choosing, we make the following proposal on behalf of Samyukt Kisan Morch after due consultation with all organisations. We propose that the next meeting between the farmers’ representatives and the Government of India be held on 29th December 2020 at 11am, with the following agenda, as per the sequence mentioned below:
- Modalities to be adopted for the repeal of the three Central Farm Acts;
- Mechanisms to be adopted to make remunerative MSP recommended by the National Farmers’ Commission into a legally guaranteed entitlement for all farmers and all agricultural commodities;
- Amendments to be made and notified in the “Commission for the Air Quality Management in National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas Ordinance, 2020” to exclude farmers from the penal provisions of the Ordinance;
- Changes to be made in the draft Electricity Amendment Bill 2020 to protect the interests of farmers.
This is to reiterate that farmers’ organisations are and have always been open to a sincere dialogue.
Sincerely,
(Leaders of 40 farmers organisations)
For
Samyukt Kisan Morcha
Meanwhile, the Rashtriya Loktantric Party (RLP), a small party in Rajasthan, walked out of the National Democratic Alliance on Saturday. While addressing farmers’ rally in Shahjahanpur in Rajasthan’s Alwar district, the RLP chief Hanuman Beniwal said, “Bye-bye. We are quitting NDA. Nothing is above the pride of farmers in the country.” The RLP had been repeatedly giving notice to the BJP on its intention to quit the NDA if the farmers’ problems were not resolved. The Akali Dal had quit the NDA on the same ground in September.
The Rajasthan BJP, however, as usual belittled RLP’s quitting the NDA. The party’s state spokesperson Mukesh Pareekh said Beniwal’s party was an independent party and “a one man’s unit.”
“Just because of him, the BJP left the parliamentary seat from Nagaur and helped him in winning the election,” he said. “Earlier, he had supported the agri laws but now just to gain political mileage he had quit the alliance,” Pareekh added.
Thousands of RLP supporters joined the farmers protest on Saturday on Jaipur-Delhi National Highway in Shahjahanpur along the Rajasthan-Haryana border.
Around 3 pm on Saturday, hundreds of vehicles had reached the border from Kotputli area of Jaipur rural. The RLP workers had put up a separate pandal on the stretch from where the farmers have been protesting on the highway for 14-days.
“I request the central government to not play with flames. Any government who has dared to go against has been dethroned. Because of this act, agriculture mandis will end. Why didn’t the government consult the farmers? Because of this act land mafias raj will increase. I don’t understand why is the government not rolling back the laws,” said Beniwal at the protest site.
Calling himself a son of a farmer, Beniwal said he had always supported them. “The central government is in the mood to muscle down the farmers’ protest. But this is the issue of sustenance and pride of farmers and we are standing with them,” he said.
Meanwhile, the senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on Saturday asked members of his party to “wake up and join the farmers’ protests and to speak up against the new farm laws.” He said when the farmers of Haryana, Punjab, UP and Rajasthan are protesting against farm laws, “the farmers of Madhya Pradesh are innocent but even Congressmen are sleeping. Wake up, join the stir and raise voices against these laws,” the former MP chief minister said.
Singh’s remarks on the farmers came after Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said there was no confusion in the state regarding the farm laws, adding that the agriculturists support the Prime Minister.
“The Centre’s three farm laws have been implemented in Madhya Pradesh and there’s no confusion over it. In all 313 blocks of the state, we will organise training on these laws, so our farmers can understand them better and learn how to benefit from them,” the chief minister had said earlier in the day.