Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Dec 10: As the agitating farmers kept building up pressure on the centre by daily increasing the numbers of people squatting on the borders of Delhi for the last 15 days, the union agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar issued a fervent appeal to the agriculturists to come back on the table for talks.
“The government is ready to consider with an open mind any provision in the new laws where farmers have any issues and we want to clarify all their apprehensions,” Tomar said
Addressing a media conference on Thursday, Tomar urged the union leaders to consider the 20-page proposal the government send to them on Wednesday, which they had rejected within hours of receiving it, and said he was ready for further discussions with them to end the impasse over their demand for repeal of the three contentious farm laws.
Even while reiterating that the new farm laws would actually benefit the farmers, Tomar, however, said the government was open to incorporate any amendments they demand if only the agitators go through the proposals and come back on the table for discussing the issues. “The government is ready for the discussion,” Tomar also said.
The centre’s appeal came even as the number of farmers at Delhi-Haryana borders kept increasing with each passing day with more from across Punjab and Haryana making a beeline to join the protest in the national capital against the three farm laws that they deem to be detrimental to their livelihood.
The agitation entered the 15th day on Thursday with a constant flow of farmers carrying black flags on their actor-trailers, SUVs, cars, trucks and canters, marching forward on NH 44—– Delhi-Chandigarh national highway– towards the national capital.
“I urge unions to set a date for discussion; we are ready to listen,” Tomar said.
Tomar assured farmers that the new laws will not affect the APMC Act or the minimum support price (MSP) mechanism. “We sent a proposal to farmers, but they wanted that laws be repealed. We are of the stand that government is ready for open-minded discussions on provisions they have an objection against. Laws don’t affect APMCs or MSP. We tried to explain this to farmers.”
“MSP has got nothing to do with these laws. They do not affect MSP at all. The prime minister has explained in the past and I have assured the farmers that MSP will continue,” Tomar also said. He reiterated that the laws were enacted to free farmers form the Mandi system and allow them to sell their crops outside the marketplace.
To allay the fears of the farmers that the acts would actually benefit the corporate houses, Tomar said, “It is being projected that the land of farmers will be occupied by industrialists. Contract farming has been going on for long in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Haryana, Punjab, Karnataka but there has never been such experience,” he said,
To add to what another union minister Piyush Goyal, who was also present at the briefing, said, “Modi government was, is and will continue to be committed to the farmers of the country,” Tomar claimed that the farmers in the Congress regime were placed at disadvantage till the present Modi government came to power. “The entire country has witnessed that Swaminathan Commission report came in 2006, the recommendation about MSP at 1.5 times cost of production remained pending till Modi government implemented it,” he said.
Tomar also clarified that the Centre has the right to make laws on trade. “During the talks, many said farm laws are invalid as agriculture is State subject and Centre can’t frame these laws. We clarified, we have the right to make laws on trade and explained it to them. APMC & MSP are not affected by it.”
With talks with Union government remaining inconclusive, the farmer leaders are requesting more and more followers to join the protests to increase the pressure on the government for the withdrawal of the three laws. Farmers in the villages along the highways and Gurdwaras are serving langar (community kitchen) for travelling farmers.
Another reason behind the continuing surge in the numbers lies in the fact that sowing of wheat is over and the farmers are free for about a month till the first irrigation of the crop.
Farmers, especially the youth, are expressing their solidarity with ongoing agitation using social media. Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) president Gurnam Singh Charuni has also created a WhatsApp group to give live updates and video messages to his supporters from the Singhu border.
The 20-page proposal offered by the Centre was rejected by the farmers immediately for being “vague”. Farmers, who are steadfast in their demand that the three farm laws be repealed, also turned down any further talks with the centre unless it showed readiness to consider repeal of the laws. Instead they have threated to intensify their agitation by blocking more highways leading to Delhi. On December 14, they said the residences of the BJP leaders, ministers and offices would be gheraoed, and dharnas would take place at district headquarters across the country. In the southern states, the protests would continue indefinitely, they claimed.