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Farmers threaten to intensify protest as India says ready to discuss proposals

New Delhi - Striking farmers say would block railway tracks; minister tells media to find out the force behind protest

Virtually ruling out repealing of new farm laws, the government on Thursday asked farmer groups to consider its proposals for amending the acts and said it is open to discussing its offer further whenever the unions want. However, protesters remained defiant and threatened to block railway tracks too in addition to highways. As the issue remained deadlocked with both sides sticking to their respective positions, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while laying the foundation stone for a new Parliament building, invoked Guru Nanak to underscore the importance of dialogue and noted that the Sikh Guru had said that interaction should continue till eternity.

A day after protesting farmers rejected the government’s offer for a written assurance on Minimum Support Price (MSP) and amend few provisions in the new farm laws, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said that union leaders must consider the proposals and said he is ready for further discussions with them, but left it to the farmer groups to propose a date for the next round of talks.

At least five rounds of formal talks have taken place between the central government and representatives of thousands of farmers, mainly from Punjab and Haryana, protesting on various borders of the national capital for about two weeks, but the deadlock has continued with the unions sticking to their main demand for the repeal of the three contentious laws and repeatedly rejecting the Centre’s offer to make some changes in law.

Addressing reporters along with Food, Railways and Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal, Tomar said he is still hopeful of a resolution.

“The government is keen and ready for further discussions with protesting farmers... To clear their apprehensions, we have sent our proposal to farmer unions. I want to urge them to fix a date for discussion as early as possible. If they have any issue, the government is ready for discussion,” the agriculture minister said.

Tomar said it was not proper on the part of unions to announce the next stage of agitation when talks were continuing and urged them to return to the discussion table.

“We gave our proposals to farmers after meeting them and therefore we urge them to consider those. If they want to discuss those proposals also, we are ready for that too,” he said.

When asked whether there was some other force behind the protest, Tomar did not give any direct reply and said: “Media’s eyes are sharp and we will leave to it to find out.”

“The press has to explore and use your investigation skills to find out,” Goyal said to a similar question.

Rejecting the government’s proposal, the farmer unions had on Wednesday said they will intensify their agitation and start blocking all highways linking the national capital as there was nothing new in the offer.

After the press conference of the ministers, farmer leaders on Thursday threatened to block railway tracks also if the government does not repeal the three laws, which they claim were aimed at benefitting corporates by weakening the mandi system and the minimum support price (MSP) regime for procurement of farm produce.

When asked whether the government would consider a new bill on the MSP system, Tomar said the new laws do not impact the MSP system and that will continue.

At the same media briefing, Goyal said: “We appeal our farmer brothers and sisters and the union leaders to end their protest and engage in dialogue with the government to resolve their issues.”

“We kept waiting for suggestions from farmers’ leaders to address their concerns, but they are stuck on the repeal of laws,” he said, while virtually ruling out conceding to the key demand with which thousands of farmers are protesting.

“Their demand was the repeal of the laws. But the government’s stand was to discuss openly on provisions on which they have any objections. There is no ego involved with the government. We have no issue in discussing with unions and to find a solution,” Tomar said when asked what outcome can be reached if nothing has happened in five rounds of talks and farmers are sticking to one key demand.

Farmer leader Shiv Kumar Kakka said five rounds of talks have already been held with the government, but they remained inconclusive.

“If the government sends us a proposal for a meeting, we will decide it in our meeting,” he said.

Asked what can be the solution to the ongoing standoff with the government, Kakka said: “Only God knows.”

“We are facing a lot of difficulties due to the cold weather and Covid-19 pandemic, but despite this, we will continue our protest until our demands are met,” Kakka said.

Besides a written assurance on continuing the MSP system, the government has also proposed to make necessary amendments on at least seven issues, including one to allay fears about the weakening of the mandi system.

The sixth round of talks between the government and farm union leaders, which was scheduled for Wednesday morning, was also cancelled.