Days before the 7th round of meeting between the government and the farmers, Bharatiya Kisan Union leader Yudhvir Singh on Friday threatened to intensify their protests against the contentious farm bills passed by the government last year. Yudhvir Singh said that the agitating farmers will hold a tractor march on January 6 if no concrete decision is taken at January 4 meeting. “It seems that the government is taking the farmers lightly. They managed to disperse the Shaheen Bagh protestors and now they are thinking to do the same with us, but such a day will never come. If the government doesn’t take a decision on January 4 then farmers will have to take one,” Yudhvir Singh said.
He further added that the farmers protesting on the Haryana-Rajasthan border will move towards Delhi if talks with govt do not progress in the right direction. “If January 4 meeting with the government fails to end deadlock, we will announce dates for shutting all malls, petrol pumps in Haryana,” the Union leader said.
Swaraj India founder Yogendra Yadav, who was also at the press conference, said, “The next round of talks with govt will be held on January 4, 2021 and if our demands are not accepted, we will hold march at Kundli-Manesar-Palwal (KMP) on January 6. We will announce a date about when & move forward from Shahjahanpur border.”
“The claims that 50 percent of issues have been resolved are false. Our two main demands — three farm bills should be scrapped and legal guarantee on Minimum Support Price (MSP) are still pending,” he further added.
“In Shahjahanpur yesterday, some farmers broke barricades & moved forward. The morcha there was held after consensus of Sanyukt Kisan Morcha here, it was a joint decision. Local & national leadership agreed that morcha should remain in Shahjahanpur for now,” Yogendra Yadav said.