Amid the ongoing farmer protests at Delhi borders against the Farm Acts, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday again reiterated that the three farm laws have been rolled out keeping in mind farmers and their interests and slammed Opposition parties for misleading and instigating them. Meanwhile, firm on their stated stance, unions and ‘jathebandis’ accused the government of trying to drive a wedge in their unity using issues like SYL canal and called Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar’s meetings with “so-called famer leaders illusionary/diversionary tactics”.
Speaking in Gujarat, where he unveiled various projects, the Prime Minister questioned, “Can any dairy owner who enters into a contract with a dairy farmer for buying milk take away his buffalo.” Assuring that farmers’ lands will remain safe, the PM said the laws will benefit all, including small and marginal farmers who will also have the same freedom as dairy farmers to sell their produce to who they want.
“Opposition leaders are misleading farmers for narrow political gains,” he said, adding that the government is there to resolve any “issues/doubts farmers might have 24 hours. The farm laws are for your benefit. Different parts of the country have given them their blessings. I am sure ‘jagrook’ (aware/progressive) farmers of the country will defeat those spreading lies and misleading them”. he PM said agriculture reforms are exactly what farmer bodies and even opposition parties have been asking for years.
Govt ready to discuss farm laws
Looking to keep the lines of communication open with unions opposed to the new farm laws, agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar said the Centre was ready to discuss the legislations “clause by clause” once the agitating farmers responded to a set of amendments proposed by the government.
Farm unions, however, intensified their agitation in several parts of Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, UP, and MP by sitting on fast, organising demonstrations and blocking key roads, therby triggering traffic snarls that lasted for several hours in some places, particularly paralysing transport on NH-8 - the main link between Rajasthan and Delhi. Defence minister Rajnath Singh echoed Tomar, saying the Centre was open to dialogue, but asserted the recent reforms had been undertaken with the best interests of farmers in mind and “there is no question of taking retrograde steps” against the agriculture sector since it was the “mother” of all sectors.
Speaking at a Ficci convention, Rajnath Singh said, “We are always willing to listen to our farmer brothers, allay their misgivings and provide them with assurances (that) we can provide. Our government is always open to discussion and dialogue” adding agriculture was one sector able to avoid adverse effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. “Our produce and procurement have been plentiful and our warehouses are full,” he said. Tomar met MPs and MLAs of Haryana on issues relating to farm laws, the state’s share of waters from the Sutlej-Yamuna link canal and construction of three dams in the upper reaches of the Yamuna river.
Meanwhile, in Punjab and Haryana, farmers held demonstrations and gherao at the offices of deputy commissioners with a large number of protesters turning up in tractor trolleys. In Rajasthan, state roadways buses as well as trucks remained disconnected with states, including Delhi, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and J&K and some parts of UP for the second consecutive day due to protests near Shahjahanpur in Haryana on NH-8. Cabs and private bus operators also did not operate its buses to Delhi.
The government, meanwhile, received a boost, even as protests intensified, with the late Sharad Joshi’s All India Kisan Coordination Committee supporting the new farm laws and its representatives meeting Tomar. The AIKCC suggested that the laws be made “optional for states to accept or reject” as a way out to end the current impasse. Though groups from Haryana and Uttarakhand had met Tomar in support of the laws last week, AIKCC coming on board is significant as this umbrella organisation has nearly 7,000 farm NGOs as members working in Maharashtra, Telangana, Haryana, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Kerala.
10,000 more to join, Delhi on edge over mega farm stir
The Singhu border in Delhi is bracing for the biggest logjam of the farm agitation so far, with 10,000 more protesters expected to join those already at the protest site amid signals from Rajasthan that hordes of farmers there are straining at the leash to proceed to the capital. Around 1.45 pm on Sunday, traffic on the Delhi-Jaipur national highway stalled at Jaisingh Khera as hundreds of farmers from Rajasthan were stopped by police from going further. The Alwar administration diverted traffic through the Behror-Tatarpur-Khairtal route. The tail of vehicles stuck on the highway stretched up to 10km. The border was opened for vehicles coming from Delhi after 3.5 hours, according to officials.
"We have not blocked the highway. It's a consequence of the fact that the police have blocked us placing barriers. We are simply trying to go to Delhi to get the government listen to us," said Amra Ram, a farmer activist from Rajasthan. At Singhu, the refrain was that everyone was there for the long haul. "We will stay here for as many months as required. We are not short of anything. If the government feels that we will starve and die here, they are wrong. Each of us is a warrior and will fight like one," said Gurnam Singh, a resident of Moga who has called his entire family to camp there.
Another protester who has been there since the first day said 2,000 tractor trolleys carrying at least four people each were on their way to Singhu. Gaganpreet Singh, a resident of Delhi who has been serving food to the protesters, said he he had asked his friends to join him to add to the numbers. "I come from a family of farmers and will always stand for their rights. The protesters are no fools that they would leave their homes and stay on the roads under such circumstances if it were for nothing," he said.
Fellow protester Mannat Singh said the plan was to block every entry point to the capital. "We will also try to block the arterial roads within Delhi. It’s not as if we want to create any inconvenience to the people; we just want our protest to be noticed."
Reconsider proposals
A day after farmer unions opposing the new agri laws rejected the Centre’s proposals, the government once again asked them to consider the assurances offered and said it remained open for talks whenever the unions were ready even as they stuck to their guns and declared plans for a ‘rail roko’.
While indicating yet again that repeal of farm laws as demanded by the agitating farmers was not on the table, Union agriculture minister Narendra Tomar dwelt on the assurances and amendments promised by the Centre and said it was ready to discuss provisions that the unions believed affected the farm sector adversely.
Farmer union goes to SC
The Bhartiya Kisan Union has filed a petition in the Supreme Court asking it to quash three agricultural laws passed by Parliament in September. Thousands of farmers have over the past few weeks been protesting against these laws, demanding that the government repeal them.
The Bhartiya Kisan Union's petition, filed by its president Bhanu Pratap Singh, claimed that the three laws will lead to commercialisation and will throw the farmers at the mercy of corporates. Citing the ongoing farmers' protest along the national capital's borders, it said a "rail roko" agitation, too, would begin soon. Calling the new laws "arbitrary", the petition alleges that they were passed without adequate discussion. The Supreme Court has already issued notices to the Central government on a batch of petitions challenging the farm laws passed by Parliament in September. These laws were first introduced in June as ordinances by the Central government.
Box
Use iron fist in a velvet glove
Veteran Indian Economist, Journalist and Columnist, Swaminathan Aiyar, who is considered fair and unbiased in his views, urges India's PM Modi to stand firm on his farm reforms. In his column in The Times of India, he said that the farm laws laws are highly sensible. One allows farmers to sell produce anywhere in India, not just in government mandis where they pay levies and commissions. The second lays out a framework for contract farming, which is voluntary and mutually beneficial. The third amends the Essential Commodities Act that historically has been used to stop produce moving across states and impose stock limits on traders. The latter has made it impossible for traders to build large global-sized warehouses — any stock limit announced by a state government will make the warehouse owners instant criminals. Freedom to sell anywhere in India should be seen as a fundamental farm right, and stock limits should be seen as socialist dinosaurs thwarting a modern warehousing system. Modi must stick to all three laws. Punjab farmers have benefited from government procurement of wheat and rice at a Minimum Support Price, something not done for other crops. Only 6% of Indian farmers benefit from MSPs, but they are concentrated in Punjab and have huge clout. Modi has guaranteed that MSPs will continue regardless of the new reforms, but the farmers worry that the reforms are the first steps to ending MSPs, and so want the laws rescinded.
