Home Minister Amit Shah met with representatives of farmers on Tuesday evening in Delhi after nationwide protests against newly enacted laws liberalising India's agriculture market spread to more parts of the country. Shah's meeting venue was at the Pusa agricultural institute campus near his official residence in Delhi.
"There is no midway. We will demand just 'yes' or 'no' from Amit Shah at the meeting," farmer leader Rudru Singh Mansa was quoted as saying said at a press conference near Delhi's border with Haryana.
"We have a meeting with the Home Minister later. We are going to Singhu border now and from there we will go to the Home Minister,” said Rakesh Tikait, a spokesperson for Bharatiya Kisan Union, one of the dozens of groups camping outside Delhi to protest the reforms.
Shah meet farmers for talks a day before sixth round of government negotiations on Wednesday. The nationwide shutdown on Tuesday led to road and rail traffic being affected in parts of the country and some markets were shut.
Shah will meet farmers' representatives for the first time to discuss their demands. Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar and Railway, Commerce and Food Minister Piyush Goyal have been leading the talks at Delhi's Vigyan Bhawan.
Tens of thousands of farmers are camping around Delhi, rallying against three laws that the government says are meant to overhaul antiquated procurement procedures and give growers more options to sell their produce. Farmers fear the legislation, passed in September, will eventually dismantle India’s regulated markets and stop the government from buying wheat and rice at guaranteed prices, leaving them at the mercy of private buyers.
Farmers block key roads
Farmers blocked national highways and other key roads at many places in Punjab and Haryana as part of the their nationwide protest to press for repeal of the Centre's new agri marketing laws. Shops and commercial establishments remained closed at most places in Punjab and several places in Haryana as traders backed the agitating farmers.
The farmer leaders said the protestors did not go to Burari ground as it is an "open jail" and demanded that Ramlila Ground be given to them. They stressed that they don't want to trouble the people of Delhi and Haryana. Public and private transport services remained shut in Punjab. In neighbouring Haryana, inter-state and intra-state bus services were disrupted. Agitating farmers blocked several key roads, including Chandigarh-Delhi, Amritsar-Delhi, Hisar-Delhi and Bhiwani-Delhi national highways. They parked tractors, trucks and other vehicles in the middle of the carriageways.
The Congress, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Shiv Sena, Left parties, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), Samajwadi Party, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) and Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) extended their support to the call. Several cab and taxi unions are also supporting the Bharat Bandh due to which travelling across the states has been disrupted.
Public transport services in Mumbai, including suburban trains and buses, and in other parts of Maharashtra largely remained unaffected amid the Bharat Bandh called by farmers' organizations.
Mixed response in Gujarat
Several rural pockets of Gujarat remained shut on Tuesday, while urban and semi-urban localities were largely unaffected by the 'Bharat Bandh.' Markets, shops, banks, government and private offices and other commercial establishments functioned normally in most parts of the BJP-ruled state.
Though a majority of the Agricultural Produce Market Committees (APMCs) remained open, no auction of products took place at several mandis as traders and commission agents extended their support to the nationwide shutdown against the three farm laws brought by the Modi government.
