No Breakthrough in Farmer – Centre Talks, Farmers Insist on Taking out Tractor Rally on Republic Day
Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Jan 20: The stalemate continued on the agricultural front with the 10th round of talks between the farmers’ unions and the central government predictably ending on Wednesday without moving an inch forward except taking a decision to meet again on Friday.
The only plus point at Wednesday’s talks, according to the farmers’ leaders, was that the government showed willingness to suspend the implementation of the contentious farm laws for one and half years but the offer was not acceptable to the farmers who kept harping on total roll back of the acts and no temporary suspension.
“The government has said it is ready to suspend the laws for one and half a year. In reply, farmers said there is no point in suspending the laws and made it clear that we want the repeal of the laws,” a farmer leader told media persons after the 10th round of talks again ended in a deadlock.
In the last meeting, the Centre had suggested that the unions constitute their own informal group to prepare a concrete proposal on the three farm laws for further discussion at their next meeting. Union agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar also assured that the government would hear the proposal with an “open mind.” But apparently the farmers’ unions had nothing new to offer and stuck to their stand they had been insisting from day one that nothing less than repeal of the laws could end the agitation.
During the meeting, farmer leaders also raised the issue of notices being served to some farmers by the National Investigating Agency (NIA) for alleged breaching of national security. The union leaders said the NIA was doing it only to harass those supporting the agitation and demoralize the agitators. The government representatives have promised to “look into it.”
The impasse continued on the negotiation table even as the Supreme Court refused to issue any orders to direct the agitating farmers to desist from taking out the tractor rally in Delhi on the Republic Day and asked the government to take an appropriate decision on the issue.
The Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sharad A. Bobde told the government that it was both “improper and irregular” for the Supreme Court to disallow any rally by the farmers. “It is irregular and improper for this court to disable any rally. It is for the police to decide. We will allow you to withdraw. You are the executive of the country. You decide,” Bobde, heading a three-judge Bench, addressed Attorney General K K Venugopal and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the government.
The court in the last week also had refused to intervene on the matter of farmers rally pointing out that it was related to law and order issue and must be dealt with by the law and order machinery and not the court. Its order on Wednesday came during hearing on a petition by the central government seeking a direction by the court to the farmers to desist from taking out the proposed tractor rally fearing outbreak of violence.
Welcoming the court’s decision refusing to intervene, the farmers unions engaged the Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana Police, going over their proposal to conduct a tractor parade on the capital’s Outer Ring Road on Republic Day.
The union leaders presented their proposed route and assured the police officials that they would ensure the protest stayed peaceful.
“The police are saying that they want to facilitate, they are saying, ‘we want your event to be held successfully, but you must understand our difficulties’. Now the court has also refused to stop the parade,” said All India Kisan Sabha leader Hannan Mollah.
Although the police have previously proposed that the unions conduct their parade on the expressway surrounding Delhi rather than entering the city, no decision had been taken as yet, he added.
A leader of the farmers claimed that more than five lakh farmers from all over the country would converge in Delhi on the Republic Day and about a lakh of tractors would participate in the “march” on the outer Ring Road of Delhi.
But while in respect of the tractor rally the apex court refused to intervene, it came down hard on the farmers, some political leaders and a section of the media for criticizing the composition of the four-member committee appointed by it to mediate into the farmers – centre talks on the ground that all the four persons named in it were “biased in favour of the farm laws.”
“We have serious objections on people whom we have appointed are being called names and that this court has interest in appointing them. What interest do we have other than decide on constitutionality? We will not expose people whom we appointed to be maligned this way based on public opinion by majority,” Bobde remarked while hearing the government petition against proposed farmers rally.
“No power has been given to committee members to adjudicate things, they have to report to us. Where is the question of bias? If you don’t want to appear before committee, don’t appear but don’t malign or brand anyone like this, don’t cast aspersions on the court,” the CJI said.
The court also issued a notice to the Centre on an application by Bhartiya Kisan Party for filling up vacancy in the four-member committee created by resignation of Bhupinder Singh Mann of Bharatiya Kisan Union (Mann). In a statement, the BKU president had said he would always stand with farmers.
The top court had, on January 12, stayed the implementation of the three laws passed by Parliament in September. The farmers who have been protesting against these laws for 56 days now want them repealed, but the government has categorically said no to that.
