New Delhi: Three union ministers met a 41-member representative group of thousands of farmers protesting against three farm laws here Wednesday. It was the sixth round of talks between the two sides to break the over one-month-long deadlock on the contentious issue. The farmers have demanded the repeal of the three farm laws.
The government is hoping it would be a decisive meeting. It is optimistic that the protesting farmers would return from Delhi borders to their respective homes to celebrate the New Year. However, farmer union leaders insisted they are prepared to continue their agitation till the government agrees to their demands, including repeal of the laws.
After around two hours of discussions, the Union Ministers joined farm leaders to share ‘langar’ food arranged by protesting farmers. The ‘langar’ (community kitchen) food arrived in a van at the meeting venue, Vigyan Bhawan just before the two sides took a break for tea and snacks.
Sources present at the venue said that Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, Food and Railway Minister Piyush Goyal and Minister of State for Commerce Som Parkash joined the farmer leaders to share their langar food during the break.
Farmer leaders said that the talks were continuing and they were going ‘agenda wise’.
While talks resumed after the break, some leaders said not much headway was made in the first session, sources said.
Some union leaders, however, said that farmers in some parts of India are being forced to sell crops including paddy below the Minimum Support Price (MSP) as market rates have fallen. They asserted that the agitation will continue till the government agrees to their demands.
“After the new farm laws were implemented in Uttar Pradesh, prices of crops have fallen by 50 per cent. Crops are being bought at below MSP. Paddy is being sold at Rs 800 per quintal. We will raise these issues in the meeting,” Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rakesh Tikait told reporters before entering the meeting venue. “We will not leave Delhi till our demands are met. We will celebrate New year at borders,” he added.
Punjab farmer leader Baldev Singh Sirsa came for the meeting carrying placards of media reports of fraudulent cases reported in Guna and Hosangabad after implementation of the new laws.
“We don’t have any new agenda. The government is maligning us by saying farmers are not coming for talks. So we gave December 29 date for talks. We have given them our clear agenda but the government is insisting that laws are beneficial for farmers,” Sirsa said.
The meeting between three union ministers and representatives of 41 farmer groups began at around 2.30 pm at Vigyan Bhawan.
The sixth round of talks between the two sides is being held after a huge gap. The fifth round of talks was held December 5.