Government to address protesting farmers concerns with an open mind

Keen to break deadlock with the farmers, sources said the government is ready to address their concerns with an open mind. But it seems, the protest will go on for some time as representatives of 35 farmers’ groups threatened to walk out if the government was not willing to do away with the new farm laws.

Narendra Singh Tomar, Union Agriculture Minister, tried to assure a group of  representatives of various farmer unions that the government is committed to cordial talks. Som Parkash, Minister of State for Commerce who is also an MP from Punjab, told the farmers that the government understands the sentiments of Punjab. He said the government is ready to address their concerns with an open mind.

Its being brought to the fore that ahead of the meeting, Tomar and Piyush Goyal, who is the Commerce and Food Minister, along with senior union ministers Rajnath Singh and Amit Shah, had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi to deliberate over proposals likely to be made to the agitating groups. Sources said Modi’s decision to hold talks with union ministers signifies the importance the prime minister has attached to defuse the crisis.

Thursday’s talks between the government and a representative group of thousands of agitating farmers failed to bear fruit as the union leaders stuck to their demand for the repeal of the new farm laws. The protesting farmers, on Friday, announced a Bharat Bandh on December 8. They also threatened to intensify their agitation and block more roads leading to the national capital.

In the later part of the afternoon today, the farmers’ group went on a maun vrat (vow of silence) during the fifth round of talks with the government and sought a reply in ‘yes’ or ‘no’ on their key demand of repealing the three new farm laws, union leaders said. As their meeting with the three union ministers continued for nearly four hours, farmer leaders told the government to reply in ‘black and white’ that whether it will repeal the laws or not.

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A member of the All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee (AIKSCC), ahead of the fifth round of talks, had said that the farmers would walk out of the meeting if the new farm laws were not withdrawn. Jagmohan Singh Patiala, farmer leader, said they are not expecting this meeting to last long as the government is just killing their time and is offering negotiations after negotiations.