In what could be seen a climbdown from its strident position, the government has agreed to have talks with farmers on Tuesday – as against the earlier scheduled Thursday – but invited only farmer leaders from Punjab.
A letter sent out by Agriculture Secretary Sanjay Agarwal late Monday night to 32 farmer leaders from Punjab invited them for a meeting with a high level committee of Cabinet Ministers on Tuesday morning.
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Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar in a message said the talks are being advanced because the farmers are protesting and also keeping in mind the increasing cold as well as Covid situation. He appealed to the farmer leaders, who attended the earlier two rounds of meeting in October and November, to “leave the path of agitation” and come forward for talks.
He also alleged that the protests are because of ‘rumours and propaganda.’
The leaders of 32 farmer organisations from Punjab are currently holding a meeting to devise the strategy. The Samyukt Kisan Morcha, spearheading the farmer agitation in Delhi, has been urging the government to engage not just the farmer groups from Punjab but other national and regional level farmer organisations in the talks.
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The morning meeting is expected to deliberate and decide whether they should accept the invitation or should insist on getting farmer leaders from other regions too for the talks.
Apart from organisations from Punjab, All India Kisan Sangarsh Coordination Committee, an umbrella coalition of 250-odd farmer organisations across the country, and farmer groups affiliated to Rashtriya Kisan Mahasangh, led by Shivkumar Kakkaji, a Madhya Pradesh based farmer leader known for his close ties with the RSS, are part of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha, which successfully mobilised a few lakhs of farmers to the capital.
Repealing of farm laws
The farmers are demanding the repeal of three recently-enacted farm laws, including the one which allows agricultural trade outside designated mandis, and the scrapping of the Electricity Amendment Bill 2020, which is expected to put an end to subsidised electricity for farm operations. The protesting farmers have been camping on Delhi’s borders for last six days and had earlier rejected Home Minister Amit Shah’s appeal to move to the designated Nirankari Samagam Ground in Burari before the talks could take place.