Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Dec 8: Even as the call for four-hour “Bharat Bandh” given by the agitating farmers received a mixed response on Tuesday, the union home minister Amit Shah held a meeting with a select group of farm leaders in the night on the eve of the crucial meeting, the sixth so far, between the central government and the agitators to break the deadlock on Wednesday.
The official sources said 13 farmer leaders were selected by the home minister were called for the meeting which began late on Tuesday evening in a bid to arrive at an agreed solution to break the 12-day long impasse with the agitating farmers refusing to accept anything less than total repeal of the three contentious farm acts.
Among the farm leaders who met Shah included eight from Punjab and five from various nationwide organisations.
Sources said the participating leaders included Hannan Mollah of the All India Kisan Sabha and Rakesh Tikait of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU).
“We will demand just a ‘yes’ or a ‘no’ from Home Minister Amit Shah,” farmer leader Rudru Singh Mansa told reporters earlier in the day at the Singhu border where thousands of farmers have been protesting for the last 12 days.
Meanwhile, with thousands of farmers protesting against Centre’s new farm laws in and around Delhi, the bandh held on Tuesday from 11am to 3pm, received a mixed response with normal life affected in large parts of northern India, especially Punjab, as well as in Odisha, and the southern states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. Large numbers of protesters and leaders were detained during the day, including Members of Parliament, both pre-emptively and during agitations. Major highways around Delhi, and parts of northern India were blocked in a chakka jaam until 3 pm.
Farm unions under the banner of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha have been agitating for more than two months, The Bandh call was supported by at least 25 political parties, as well as a wide range of society, including major trade unions, traders and transport associations as well as professional bodies such as the Bar Association of the Supreme Court, unions of bank employees and others.
While the crucial meeting with the union agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar and others would be held at the Vigyan Bhavan, a delegation of opposition parties will meet President Ram Nath Kovind on Wednesday over concerns on the three new agriculture laws enacted by the Centre in September and to seek their repeal, senior leaders said. The CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury said the five-member delegation – Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, NCP chief Sharad Pawar, a representative of the DMK, CPI general secretary D Raja and he – would meet the President tomorrow at 5 pm on behalf of the Opposition parties.