New Delhi/Bhatinda: In a fresh effort to break the deadlock with farmers’ organisations agitating against the new farm laws, the Centre has invited them for talks. The invitation from agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar came after consultations among senior BJP leaders over ways to reach farmers’ leaders in order to end the stalemate.
Home minister Amit Shah reached out afresh to farmer leaders two days after he spoke to BKU (Ekta Ugrahan) president Joginder Singh Ugrahan. BKU (Ekta Dakaunda) president Buta Singh Burjgill received a call from Shah asking farm organisations to begin talks with no conditions. Burjgill said the organisations were waiting for a formal written invitation.
“I had got a call from Amit Shah, who asked to come for a meeting without putting any conditions and asked me to convey this to all the farm organisations. As conditions were put before holding the meeting earlier, we had rejected it. We have now decided to attend the meeting after we get a written invitation," Burjgill said. Former Punjab minister Surjit Kumar Jyani of BJP, who facilitated the phone calls, said a fresh invitation could help end the impasse.
Earlier in the day, addressing the media at Delhi’s Singhu border, farmers’ leaders refused to go back, clarified that their demands were “non-negotiable” and, responding to PM Narendra Modi's comments, said their "mann ki baat" should also be heard.
Farmers reject govt’s conditional talks offer
Earlier, the agitating farmers’ unions rejected the Centre’s talks offer, saying they were ready for discussions but not at the government’s condition of first moving to the designated protest site at Burari in the Capital despite the Centre inviting them for deliberations. The groups, assembled on the Delhi-Haryana border, decided to intensify the protests and called for all-India mobilisation of farmers for state-level protests across the country to press key demands, including legal guarantee to procurement of farm produce at minimum support price (MSP) and repeal of the newly-enacted central farm laws.
“The condition put forward for talks is an insult to farmers. We have decided that we will never go to Burari ground as we got proof that it is an open jail. Instead of going to an open jail, we have decided to ‘gherao’ (encircle) Delhi by blocking five main entry points to the city,” said Surjeet Singh Phul, Punjab president of Bhartiya Kisan Union (Krantikari). Asked how long they will be on the roads, Phul said, “We have got four months of ration with us. So, nothing to worry about.”
