Centre wants honourable exit from farm issue: Unions

Vishav Bharti

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 31

After negotiations on Wednesday, farm unions today claimed they were heading towards victory as the government wanted an “honourable exit” from the issue.

After a gap of several days, addressing the people at the Singhu border, farm leader Balbir Singh Rajewal said the body language of ministers of the National Democratic Alliance had changed now. “For the first time, they are at the receiving end. The Union Agriculture Minister requested farm leaders to get them rid of the situation,” he said.

Rajewal said it was because of the support of the youth and farmers of Punjab that the government completely agreed on the power Bill and stubble burning issues.

“But our main demand is still unaddressed, which is to repeal the three farm laws. We don’t want anything less than that,” he said. He said they now wanted a way out of the situation and hopefully, the meeting on January 4 would find a solution.

However, BKU (Ugrahan) dismissed the claim of Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar that both parties had reached a consensus on 50 per cent of the issues. Joginder Singh Ugrahan said no response was received on the farmers’ demand to repeal the three farm laws as well as to make MSP and government purchase of all crops a legal right in all states. Instead, the government kept praising the new laws and was firmly against withdrawing them in the meeting. In fact, the reality was different from the claim that there was a consensus on two fronts.

“In order to protect farmers’ rights from being exploited by corporates, it becomes necessary that MSP and government purchase be made a legal right for all crops. There is no way to guarantee such rights without legal safeguards. The government is only giving assurances for fixing the MSP and is abdicating its responsibility by claiming there is no budget for government purchase,” he said.

“It is definitely feeling the pressure of protests under which it is compelled to sit on the table with farm unions. The government has been forced to acknowledge the strength of struggles of the farmers,” Ugrahan added.