Farmers, Centre to hold ninth round of talks today
The Farmers and Centre will hold the ninth round of talks today at 12 PM, for the first time since the Supreme Court put a stay on the implementation of three laws that triggered a massive protest. While one farmers' leader said talks are necessary to put an end to the agitation, another revealed he has little hope from Friday's dialogue. Here's more.
Context: Farmers and Centre spoke eight times, talks remained inconclusive
Farmers, who have been protesting against the three farm laws at Delhi's borders, want the Centre to roll back the reforms. They argue the changes will have adverse effects on their income but the government has assured this won't happen. The government invited them for dialogue for the first time in December. Since then, they met eight times but the deadlock didn't end.
Farmers' leader confirmed they will attend today's talks
During the previous rounds, the government said it can only amend the laws and not repeal them, an offer the farmers rejected. After much deliberations, the protesters agreed to participate in the ninth round of talks today. Bhartiya Kisan Union (Ekta Ugrahan)'s Joginder Singh Ugrahan confirmed this to PTI yesterday but added that the government doesn't seem interested in finding a solution.
'Don't have much hope from the Friday meeting'
"We are going to hold talks with the government tomorrow. We don't have much hope from the Friday meeting as the government will cite the Supreme Court-appointed panel. The government doesn't have good intentions to resolve our issues," Singh claimed.
We don't want a committee, reiterated Singh
Singh repeated what farmers have been saying about the SC-mandated committee since Tuesday — they don't want one. "We just want a complete repeal of three farm laws and legal guarantee on minimum support price for our crops," he added. Another leader Abhimanyu Kohar said the Centre should not play with the sentiments of farmers who have been protesting since November 28.
Talks necessary to end the protest, said another leader
Separately, Bharatiya Kisan Union's Rakesh Tikait underlined that dialogue is absolutely necessary. "Let's see what happens tomorrow. But our meetings will continue with the government till our protest ends as it is necessary. We will not oppose the meetings with the government," he said, dismissing speculations that Friday's meeting could be the last. Reportedly, today farmers would focus on ways to repeal the laws.
Government ready to hold talks with an open mind
Meanwhile, the government is hoping today's dialogue yields a positive result. Yesterday, Agriculture Minister Narendra Tomar said, "The government is ready to hold talks with farmers' leaders with an open mind." Notably, the government had earlier revealed that while the decision of SC to put a stay on laws was not what it was hoping for, it would accept the same whole-heartedly.
