Chhavi Bhatia
New Delhi—The impasse persisted during the 7th round of discussions between farmer leaders and the Centre on Monday as both the parties remained firm on their stand. A meeting will be held again on January 8. The farmers have threatened to hold a tractor parade on Republic Day if their demands are not met. Earlier on Union agriculture minister Narendra Tomar had offered to discuss the farmers’ demand on guaranteeing the Minimum Support Price but the farmers’ representatives held their ground on repealing the controversial laws.
Your point-by-point guide on the big story:
- The government wanted to have clause wise discussion of the laws which was unanimously rejected by the farm unions. “We told them in no uncertain terms that we want the laws to be rolled back. The government wants us to agree on amendments but we are focused on the repeal,” said farmer leader Yudhvir Singh of Bharatiya Kisan Union.
- Agriculture minister “clearly” said that the laws will not be revoked, according to the farm leaders. “He asked us to approach the Supreme Court for this. This fight is not ending anytime soon now. We have asked Punjab youths to mobilise maximum support and brace themselves for a long haul,” said Sarwan Singh Pandher of Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee.
- Union minister Narendra Tomar said, “We wanted to hold talks over amendments but the farmer leaders were resolute on repealing. We hope this deadlock will end conclusively in the next round of the meeting.”
- Both the farmers representatives and the ministers(Tomar, Commerce and Industry minister Piyush Goyal and junior minister Som Prakash) took a long break after an hour of the discussion. During this time, the farmers had langar food which they had brought with them like last few times.
- However, unlike last time, the ministers did not join them for lunch today. Instead, they went into a huddle in a conference room which lasted for two hours.
- The meeting had started with a two-minute silence to pay respect to more than 60 farmers who lost their lives while camping at Delhi border since the Kisan Morcha started. While some died by suicide, a lot of them could not survive the inclement weather.
