5th meeting between the government and the union leaders ended inconclusively on Saturday.
The next meeting will now take place on December 9.
By ; Aashish Dhaliwal
Delhi , December 5 ;
Government asked for some more time to present a concrete proposal. They told the unions that they “need further consultations within the government for that. Therefore December 9 is the next meeting date proposed at 11 am,” those who are part of the meeting said.
Seeking to break the deadlock over protests against the new farm laws, the government on Saturday told representatives of agitating farmers that their concerns are being looked into but the union leaders stuck to their demand for repeal of the legislations and threatened to walk out of the talks.The government side, however, managed to convince the farmer leaders to continue the talks, which began at 2.30 pm earlier in the day. This is the fifth round of talks between the government and representatives of farmers, thousands of whom are protesting at various borders of the national capital against what they claim are the laws meant to end the mandi system and minimum support price procurement system to give for benefits of corporates.
As the meeting resumed after a tea break in the evening, during which the farmer leaders had their own food and tea, they threatened to walk out if the government was not willing to scrap the three laws enacted in September.While the government managed to convince them to continue with the talks, sources said some kind of division emerged among the participating farmer leaders on various issues proposed by the ministers.Another source said the government also offered to take back cases filed against farmers for stubble burning, as also the cases filed against some farmer activists. Later in the evening, the ministers began talking to smaller groups of 3-4 farmer leaders, out of the total 40 representatives present there.
Farmer leaders are firm, saying that either say yes or no on taking back the laws, even though ministers say that the government is ready for amendments to the laws .Union ministers are holding consultations, yet again. All members of delegation have decided to keep silent. The government side is trying to draw us out, they said. Farmer leaders are trying to force the government to say in black and white if it will repeal the laws. The government is not responding to this pinpointed question, they said.Sources say the farmers say now they will not speak. They are sitting with fingers on lips, indicating they will not speak. Ahead of their meeting with farmers, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, Home Minister Amit Shah and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh met Prime Minister Narendra Modi to discuss the matter.
Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar has requested farmer leaders to ask elderly and young children to go back while farmers are saying that everyone is prepared to stay put. So far there does not appear any middle path though. Farmers are also not ready to take back the call for ‘Bharat’ bandh.Sources say the three ministers, Narendra Singh Tomar, Piyush Goyal and Som Prakash, are holding independent consultations.
While the government is insisting on a middle path, farmer leaders are firm on their key demands around four hours into the meeting. Minister of State for Commerce Som Parkash, who is from Punjab, also addressed the leaders in Punjabi and said the government understands the sentiments of Punjab.While farmers are insisting on a special Parliament Session, ministers once again held closed door meeting, apparently to apprise senior leaders about the situation.The government wants a middle path and says it is ready for amendments.
While the Opposition parties in states namely Bihar and Tamil Nadu are mounting pressure, the agitation is now being seen as a ‘jan andolan’ movement of farmers, common people, and youngsters and farmer leaders are also under tremendous pressure not to budge from the stated stance.The first round of talks for the day is over.
Sources say there is a 15-minute break in the meeting, the government has given a written reply to unions on the issues related to changes in the laws. Farmers said they were willing to settle for nothing less than their stated stance and made it clear thar there was no middle path.The meeting between 40 farmer unions and the Centre will resume soon at Vigyan Bhawan.
Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, Consumer Affairs Minister Piyush Goyal, Union Minister of State Som Prakash and Agriculture Secretary Sanjay Agarwal have joined the talks from the government side while the Bharatiya Kisan Union, the Bharatiya Kisan Sanyukt Morcha and the Krantikari Kisan Union are among the 40 farm organisations represented at the meeting.Ahead of the ‘nirnayak’ meeting, Tomar again expressed hope of positive results.
