New Delhi: Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said Wednesday the Centre is not holding any informal talk with protesting farmers. He also described putting up of barricades and suspending internet in and around agitation sites as law and order issues related to local administrations. The last and 11th round of meeting between the government and 41 protesting farmer unions was held January 22. It was inconclusive. The Centre had asked farmer unions to reconsider the government’s proposal to suspend new farm laws for 18 months.
Tomar was asked if the government was engaging with the unions informally. “No,” he said. “We will inform when formal talks will be held,” he added.
Tomar was also asked when the government will hold the next round of talks. He was informed that protesting unions have demanded that no formal talks with the government can be held until the police and the administration stop ‘harassing’. Also the detained farmers have to be released. Tomar said, “”They should talk to the Police Commissioner. I don’t want to comment on the law and order issue. That’s not my job.”
Separately, Minister of State for Agriculture Kailash Choudhary said in a statement that the dialogue is the only way out for finding a solution for any kind of protest. The government is trying and it is ready to talk inside as well as outside Parliament, he said. The minister said the laws are in favour of farmers, but the Opposition was politicising the issue.
Since the January 22 talks, there has been no meeting between the farmer unions and the Centre to discuss the farm laws. The government however, has reiterated that its offer stands and doors are open for discussion.
The Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) – the umbrella body of farmers’ unions came out with a statement. It said there can be no ‘formal’ talks with the government until the ‘harassment’ of different kinds against the farmers’ movement by the police and administration is ‘immediately stopped’. The SKM had also said no formal proposal for talks has been received by it.
“No formal proposal for talks came from the government. We clearly state that the talks will be held only after the unconditional release of farmers who are in illegal police custody,” SKM had said in a statement.