The ninth round of talks between the government and the agitating farmers ended inconclusively on Friday. The next round of meeting has been scheduled for 19 January.
The meeting of the farmer leaders with the government, which started at 12 noon on Friday and went on for around five hours, over the three contentious farm laws and the demand for minimum support price (MSP) ended in a stalemate.
“Today’s talks with farmers unions were inconclusive, and we will hold talks again on January 19,” Agriculture & Farmers Welfare Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said. “We are sure that we’ll be able to come to an agreement through our talks.”
Tomar said the government was concerned about the health of farmers who have been camping on the outskirts of the capital New Delhi in protest for almost two months.
Speaking to the media after the meeting, Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) spokesperson Rakesh Tikait said, “Our demand will remain the same and we will not go to the committee formed by the Supreme Court, but continue to hold talks with the government. We still demand that the government should repeal the three farm laws besides ensuring MSP.”
Tikait also said that the anti-farm law protests will stretch for long. “The opposition will raise this issue in the Parliament, while we will raise the issue in our protests outside the Parliament,” Tikait said, adding that the government is not accepting the demands of the farmers.
This was the first meeting between the two sides after the Supreme Court order on January 12, which stayed the implementation of the three farm laws and also formed a four-member committee to look into the farmers’ issues. However, on Thursday, farmer leader Bhupinder Singh Mann, one of the four members on the committee, had recused himself from the panel constituted by the top court.
Earlier, eight rounds of talks were held between the farmers and the government, but they all turned out to be inconclusive.
Thousands of farmers from Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh have been agitating against the three farm laws on the borders of Delhi since November 26. Their main demand is that the government must repeal the three farm laws enacted in September last year.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court is likely to hear on Monday the pleas challenging the three farm laws and also the pleas seeking the removal of farmers camping at various Delhi borders.
A bench headed by Chief Justice S.A. Bobde and comprising Justices L. Nageswara Rao and Vincent Saran will take up the petitions on 18 January. On 12 January, the top court stayed the implementation of the three farm laws until further orders.
The hearing assumes significance after Bhartiya Kisan Union President Bhupinder Singh Mann, a key member of the court-appointed expert panel, recused himself.
In a statement, Mann said he would give up any position to prevent farmers’ interests from being compromised.
He said that in view of the prevailing sentiments and apprehensions amongst the farm unions and the public in general, he is ready to sacrifice any position offered or given so as to not compromise the interests of Punjab and farmers of the country. “I am recusing myself from the committee and I will always stand with my farmers and Punjab,” Mann added.
Apart from Mann, Shetkari Sanghatana (Maharashtra) president Anil Ghanwat, International Food Policy Research Institute’s Pramod Kumar Joshi and agriculture economist Ashok Gulati have been appointed by the apex court on the expert panel.