Farm laws: Talks fail as farmers' leaders walk out over minister's absence

CHANDIGARH: The leaders of the farmers' organisations from Punjab walked out of the talks with the Centre the contentious farm laws alleging that it is not serious on the issue and trying to torpedo their stir.

The meeting was held in Krishi Bhawan (Ministry of Agriculture in Delhi) with Union Agriculture Secretary Sanjay Agarwal.

Speaking to this newspaper, Balbir Singh Rajewal, president of Bhartiya Kishan Union (Rajewal Group) said, "The eight Union ministers are doing propaganda in villages of Punjab and here the agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar did not even attend the meeting. We were earlier told that the minister will be present. We accepted the Centre’s invite for talks but were disappointed."

"When we asked the secretary whether the central government was really interested in resolving the issue, he (Agarwal) had no answer. He did not have much to offer. He was not ready to listen to us and told us the benefits of the laws. Our grievances remained unheard. Again, we can't talk to a bureaucrat who does not take policy decisions. Our agitation against the three farm laws will continue," said Rajewal.

When Agarwal tried to pacify the seven farmer representatives, asking them to stay for talks, they handed over their memorandum of demands and walked out.

"We gave the secretary the memorandum in which we have demanded that the laws be repealed, minimum support price (MSP) on all crops to be made a legal right for farmers and open-ended procurement be guaranteed. Besides, the Centre should not go ahead with the proposed bill on electricity as it will further hit farmers' interest. We will hold our meeting tomorrow (Thursday) in Chandigarh and decide further course of action. As of now, the protests will continue," said Rajewal.

Meanwhile, former Union Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal said that the government had called 29 farm union leaders for talks and only a bureaucrat interacted with them.

Sources said that a second meeting was proposed in hope that common ground could be reached after the farmers' organisations rejected the first offer.

Before the meeting, farmers' organisations had said they wanted to meet the Prime Minister and the Agriculture Minister to put forth their views regarding the new laws.