New Delhi: The farmers’ ongoing protest against the Centre’ three contentious farm laws has entered in its 27th day on Tuesday (December 22, 2020). On the 27th day of their protest, the farmer leaders will meet to discuss their next plan of action after the Centre issued a letter to them seeking a date for the sixth round of talks to end the ongoing strike against the farm laws and resolve all issues pertaining to the MSP. There will be a ”Sanyukt Morcha” meeting to decide how and when to respond to the government. We will evaluate the government’s letter and then decide,” Gurmeet Singh, farmer union leader, said.
Meanwhile, the joint forum of farmers organisations – Sanyukt Kisan Morcha – has appealed to Bihar farmers to join the agitation to get the benefit of minimum support price (MSP) for their produce. The farmer unions are also making efforts to draw support from farmers in other states like Bihar for their demand to enact a law assuring Minimum Support Price.
Farmers brave chilling cold to continue stir
Thousands of farmers, mostly from Punjab and Haryana, have been camping at several Delhi border points in the cold wave conditions against the new farm laws for the last 24 days. On Monday the farmers held a relay hunger strike at various protest sites in batches of 11. The agitating farmers have lit bonfire at various places near the Delhi borders to fight the chilling cold weather conditions and put up make-shift tents to accommodate more protesting farmers there.
Delhi: Protesting farmers comfort themselves by lighting bonfire as cold weather conditions continue in the national capital.
Farmers’ protest against Centre’s three farm laws enters 27th day at Singhu border (Delhi-Haryana border) pic.twitter.com/7ECu4zpjhz
— ANI (@ANI) December 22, 2020
Farmer leaders on hunger strike
Agitating farmers are on a three-day-long ‘relay’ hunger strike at all protest sites on Delhi’s borders with Haryana and Uttar Pradesh to press their demand for the repeal of the contentious agri laws. They have said that there is nothing new in the Centre’s latest offer for talks to end their agitation. “We have not received any meeting invitation from Agriculture Minister yet. Farmers have decided they won’t go back till govt takes back all 3 Farm laws. It will take more than a month to resolve all issues. Govt will come to us,” Rakesh Tikait, spokesperson, Bhartiya Kisan Union, said. However, they said that they are always ready for talks. They have decided to skip one meal from December 23 in order to press the Centre to meet their demands on MSP.
Haryana tool plazas to be set free
The agitating farmers have aid that they will set free al toll plazas in Haryana free between December 25-27 as part of their agitations against the farm laws. They have also assured that their agitation against farm laws will be peaceful.
More farmers to join stir
Thousands of farmers from Maharashtra had left for Delhi from Nashik to join the ongoing agitation by cultivators seeking the repeal of three agri laws passed by the Centre. The farmers, who started off in private vehicles on Monday, were led by leaders of the Kisan Sabha. Before proceeding to Delhi in afternoon, the farmers burnt effigies of Central leaders. Meanwhile, farmers from Bihar and UP are also likely to join the stir. The protestors include farmers from various districts of western Uttar Pradesh like Gautam Buddh Nagar, Bulandshahr, Aligarh, Meerut, Muzaffarnagar and Firozabad. They want to move to Delhi to join the bigger stir called chiefly by farm unions of Punjab and Haryana.
Growing political support to farmers
The opposition too stepped up the pressure with the Shiromani Akali Dal demanding an emergency Parliament session to annul the new laws, while the Left Democratic Front government in Kerala has decided to convene a special session on Wednesday to pass a resolution against the Acts. In the letter to 40 union leaders, the Joint Secretary in the Union Agriculture Ministry, Vivek Aggarwal, had on Sunday asked them to specify their concerns over its earlier proposal of amendments in the laws and choose a convenient date for the next round of talks so that the ongoing agitation could end at the earliest.
The sixth round of talks, due to be held on December 9, was cancelled following a deadlock with the farmer unions refusing to budge from their demand for repealing the three laws. The farmer leaders on Monday said they are always ready for dialogue as long as the government is offering a “concrete solution”
“There is nothing new in their letter. We have already rejected the government’s proposal to amend the new farm laws. In its letter, the government has asked us to discuss its proposal and convey a date to it for another round of talks. Don’t they know our demand? We just want a complete repeal of the new agriculture laws,” farmer leader Abhimanyu Kohar said.
In the letter, the Union agriculture joint secretary said the Centre is making all efforts with “an open heart” to find an appropriate solution to resolve all concerns raised by farmers. The officer said that in its draft proposal sent on December 9, the government had proposed to make necessary amendments on at least seven issues, including providing a “written assurance” to the farmers that the existing minimum support price (MSP) system would continue.
Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal alleged that the BJP-led central government, with its offer to resume the talks, is trying to create an impression that it is reasonable and the agitating farmers are wrong. The Bharatiya Kisan Union (Lok Shakti), which is staging demonstrations at the Dalit Prerna Sthal in Noida, too demanded that another law be promulgated that ensures legal action against those who buy crops at rates lower than the minimum support price (MSP).
Row over farm laws & MSP
Enacted in September, the three farm laws have been projected by the central government as major reforms in the agriculture sector that will remove the middlemen and allow farmers to sell anywhere in the country.
However, the protesting farmers have expressed apprehension that the new laws would pave the way for eliminating the safety cushion of Minimum Support Price and do away with the mandi system, leaving them at the mercy of big corporates. The government has repeatedly asserted that the MSP and Mandi systems will stay and has accused the opposition of misleading the farmers.
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