NEW DELHI, June 9: Even as the West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee said she would write to all non-BJP chief ministers to support the cause of the agitating farmers, the union agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar said the central government was ready to resume talks with protesting farmers.
But his offer for resuming talks did not indicate any change in the centre’s stand on the main demand of the agitating farmers, repeal of the three contentious farm laws adopted by the Narendra Modi government. Throwing the ball back on the farmers’ court, Tomar said the talks could be held only if the farmers’ unions could point out their objections to the provisions of the three farm laws with sound logic.
Banerjee who met some of the farmers’ leaders at the West Bengal secretariat on Wednesday extended support to the farmers protesting against the three Central farm Bills. She said she would write to the Chief Ministers of the Opposition-ruled States to support the cause of farmers.
The government and unions have held 11 rounds of talks, the last being on January 22, to break the deadlock and end the farmers’ protest. Talks have not resumed following widespread violence during a tractor rally by protesting farmers on January 26.
Thousands of farmers, mainly from Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh, have been camping at Delhi’s borders for more than six months in protest against the three laws that they say will end state procurement of crops at MSP. The Supreme Court has put on hold the implementation of the three laws till further orders and set up a committee to find solutions.
“All political parties of the country wanted to bring the farm laws, but they could not gather courage to bring them. Modi government took this big step in the interest of farmers and brought reforms. Farmers got benefit of that in several parts of the country. But in the meantime farmers agitation started,” Tomar said at a Cabinet briefing.
He said the government held 11 rounds of talks with farmers and Unions were asked about their objections in the laws and which provisions they think were against farmers.
“But neither leader of any political party gave its answer in the House [Parliament] nor any farmers’ leader, and the talks did not move forward.”
The Minister said the government is committed towards farmers and it also respects farmers. “So, whenever farmers want discussions, Government of India will be ready for discussion. But we have repeatedly asked them to tell the objections in the provisions with logic. We will listen and find a solution,” Tomar said.
Three Union Ministers, including Tomar and Food Minister Piyush Goyal, held 11 rounds of talks with the protesting farmer unions.
In the last meeting on January 22, the government’s negotiations with 41 farmer groups hit a roadblock as the unions squarely rejected the Centre’s proposal of putting the laws on suspension.
During the 10th round of talks held on January 20, the Centre had offered to suspend the laws for 1-1.5 years and form a joint committee to find solutions, in return for protesting farmers going back to their respective homes from Delhi’s borders.
Farmer groups have alleged that these laws will end the mandi and MSP procurement systems and leave the farmers at the mercy of big corporates, even as the government has rejected these apprehensions as misplaced.
During the day, Banerjee met leaders of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha, including Rakesh Tikait, at the State Secretariat. He congratulated her for her landslide victory in the Assembly polls. After defeating the BJP, Ms. Banerjee should now strive for making West Bengal a model State for farmers, farm leaders said.
“We have been supporting the protesting farmers from the start. We also passed a resolution in the Assembly against the Bills,” Banerjee said. Farm leaders requested her to visit Delhi after the COVID-19 situation improves.
The Chief Minister stated that she would take the initiative so that she could have a meeting with the Chief Ministers of the Opposition-ruled States on the issue. She asked why the Centre was not holding talks with the protesting farmers for the past seven months.
Former Union Minister and Trinamool Congress leader Yashwant Sinha said the Centre was trying to hand over traditional agriculture to corporates. “If traditional agriculture is dismantled, India will cease to be India.”
The Chief Minister also took on the Centre on GST on COVID-19 vaccines. “Imposing GST on vaccines is like playing with the life and death of people,” she said. Why vaccines were not routed through States, she asked.
(Manas Dasgupta)
