As per sources, after the protesting farmers union have rejected the State’s request to move to Burari ground in Delhi, the Centre has called them for a crucial meet today. Peaceful sit-ins by farmers, mostly from Punjab and Haryana continued for the fifth day at the Singhu and Tikri borders.
On Monday night, the Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said that the protesting farmers have been invited for talks again on Tuesday. It had earlier been decided that the next round of discussion would take place on December 3, but they have been moved forward due to the relentless agitation, the coronavirus pandemic, and the cold weather, he said.
“Keeping in view the cold and COVID-19, we have invited leaders of farmer unions for discussion much before the scheduled 3rd December meeting,” Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said, urging the farmers to end their stir.
On the other hand, while addressing a press conference at Singhu border, the general secretary of Bhartiya Kisan Union Jagmohan Singh, said that “They have come to Delhi for a ‘decisive’ battle and asked Prime Minister Modi to listen to their ‘Mann ki Baat’. Our demands are non-negotiable.”
Modi’s say on the protesting farmers
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had accused the opposition parties of misleading farmers and ‘playing tricks’ on them as he and the BJP asserted that the new agriculture laws, over which protests by farmers raged in the NCR, will provide new options to sell for more and also safeguards. Modi also said that presently a new trend is being seen in the country where protests are based on creating doubts through misinformation, while Union ministers urged farmers not to have any misconceptions about the three agriculture reform legislations.
“Decades of deceit are making farmers apprehensive and they are seeing the new move in the same manner but now there is no deceit. Work is being done with intentions as pure as Ganga Jal,” he said.
On the other hand, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi alleged that the new laws are meant for ‘prime minister’s two-to-three friends, and are aimed at stealing from the farmers.’ Thereafter, Congress launched a social media campaign to muster support for the farmers and said its members will extend assistance to the protesters, while the DMK and its allies too issued a statement slamming the government’s stand.
