The fourth round of talks between the central team of ministers and the agitating farmers began in Chandigarh on Sunday with farmers asserting that the government should avoid dilly-dallying and find a solution to their demands, including a legal guarantee for minimum support price (MSP) for crops.
Union Agriculture and Farmer Welfare Minister Arjun Munda, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai were engaged in talks with farmer leaders at the time of going to the press.
“The government has offered us a suggestion to form a committee to understand the details of a legal guarantee of MSP but we don’t want to settle for anything less than an ordinance which can be done in the next guarantee,” a senior leader, who is part of the negotiations, told Business Standard.
He said the Centre is also trying to delay the process which will test the patience of thousands of farmers gathered on the Punjab and Haryana border.
The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (apolitical) which is spearheading the protests with other groups said in a statement over the weekend that though they welcome the support of other groups, the direction of the protests will be decided only by them.
Farmer leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal, according to news agency PTI, also said the Centre should not dilly-dally and accept the demands of farmers before the model code of conduct comes into force. The date of the Lok Sabha elections will be announced next month.
The two sides – ministers and farmer leaders – met earlier on February 8, 12 and 15 but the talks remained inconclusive.
“We want to tell the government that it should avoid the policy of dilly-dallying,” Dallewal told reporters at the Shambhu border point.
“If the government thinks it will continue to hold meetings till the code of conduct is imposed, and then say it cannot do anything as the code is in force”…farmers are not going to return. The government should find a solution to our demands before the code of conduct comes into force,” he said.
He said no political party is sponsoring the agitation, and reiterated the demands for an ordinance on giving legal guarantee to MSP for crops, implementation of the Swaminathan Commission’s recommendations and debt waiver.
Another farmer leader Surjit Singh Phool accused the Centre of not fulfilling its assurances of releasing detained farmers and restoring internet services in certain areas of Punjab and social media accounts of farmer leaders.
Balbir Singh Rajewal, a leader of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), an umbrella body of various farmer unions, said they will stage protests in front of the residences of Punjab BJP leaders, including MPs, MLAs and district presidents, from Tuesday to Thursday.
Interacting with reporters after a meeting of SKM leaders in Ludhiana, Rajewal said it has also been decided that they would protest at all toll barriers in the state and make them free for all commuters from February 20 to 22.
“Our struggle will continue even if the model code of conduct for the Lok Sabha elections comes into force,” he told reporters.
Besides minimum support price (MSP) for crops, the farmers are demanding a loan waiver, implementation of the Swaminathan Commission’s recommendations, pension for farmers and farm labourers, and withdrawal of police cases.
Besides minimum support price (MSP) for crops, the farmers are demanding a loan waiver, implementation of the Swaminathan Commission’s recommendations, pension for farmers and farm labourers, and withdrawal of police cases.
First Published: Feb 18 2024 | 9:05 PM IST
