Agitating farmers refuse to budge, say here for 'decisive battle'

Reject offer for talks, siege of Delhi continues

The agitating farmers who have laid siege to Delhi rejected the central government’s offer for talks for the second time in two days. The protesting farmers said they have come to the national capital for a “decisive battle” and asserted that they will continue their agitation till their demands are met.

“Our demands are non-negotiable,” said a farmer leader, adding that the ruling party “will have to pay a heavy price” if it did not heed their concerns. “We have come here to fight a decisive battle,” the farmer leader said. Gurnam Singh Chaduni, another farmer leader, added that around 31 cases have so far been registered against the protesters to “suppress” their agitation.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah had asked the farmers to shift to the Burari ground in New Delhi and had said the Centre was ready to hold discussions with them as soon as they moved to the designated place. Last night, Shah also had a meeting with Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar and BJP President J P Nadda along with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh for over two hours to discuss the farmers’ agitation and a possible solution to the crisis.

A meeting of over 30 farmer groups on Sunday had rejected Shah’s offer for talks before the scheduled date of December 3 and demanded an unconditional dialogue.

Thousands of protesters refused to budge and spent another night in the cold at the Singhu and Tikri border points. Their representatives said that Shah’s condition that they shift the protest was not acceptable to them and described Burari ground as an “open jail”.

Ally trouble

• Nagaur (Rajasthan) MP and an NDA ally, Hanuman Beniwal said he will have to reconsider his party’s support to the Centre if the new agricultural laws are not withdrawn. Beniwal, the convener of Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP), appealed to Union Home Minister Amit Shah to withdraw the three farm laws immediately and implement all the recommendations of the Swaminathan Commission.
• In Chandigarh, Haryana MLA Sombir Sangwan tendered his resignation as chairman of the State Livestock Development Board in support of the farmers. Sangwan is an independent MLA supporting the BJP-Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) coalition government in the state. In the letter to Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, he said, “I have resigned from my post in support of farmers.”
• Newly elected Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said the Centre should allay the fear of the protesting farmers that the new agriculture laws were aimed at doing away with the system of Minimum Support Price or that they will adversely affect the procurement process.

The farmers, who have come prepared for the long-haul, have converted their tractor-trolleys into temporary homes. Many of them have brought at least two trolleys with each tractor: One carrying ration and other essentials, and the other to accommodate the protesters.        

“Stubble or crop residue, disposal of which otherwise becomes a major challenge for the farmers, is also coming in handy as many have cushioned their trolleys with layers of straw and laid mattresses over it to protect them from the cold,” the PTI report said. The tractor-trolleys have occupied an area of over 10 km in Sonepat, the Haryana district that lies along the Ambala-Delhi national highway.

Among the protesters are many men and women aged over 70.

Where the agitation stands

• Farmers have refused to accept the offer for talks for the second time
• They say until their demand — withdrawal of the three farm Acts — is met, their protest will continue
• Farmers from Uttar Pradesh have also joined the agitation of Punjab and Haryana farmers and blocked the Delhi-UP border
• All eyes are on the December 3 meeting between farmers and the Central government

Today being Gurpurab, the birth anniversary of Nanak Dev, the founder of Sikhism, the farmers performed ardas (prayer) at the Haryana-Delhi border and distributed karah parshad among the protesters.

The opposition Congress launched a social media campaign in support for the farmers. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi tweeted, in Hindi: “The Modi government has persecuted the farmer — first it brought black laws and then used lathis against them, but it forgot that when the farmer raises his voice, it resonates throughout the country. You also raise your voice against the exploitation of farmers and join the #SpeakUpForFarmers campaign.”

Fruit, vegetable supply to Delhi hit

• In Delhi, the farmer protest at the Singhu and Tikri borders has impacted the supply of vegetables and fruits from Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir. Azadpur Mandi, one of Delhi’s largest wholesale markets, is getting just half of the ordinary supply. Vendors in Delhi said the shortage had impacted the wholesale rates of seasonal vegetables, which have gone up by Rs 50-Rs 100.
• “On normal days, around 2,500 trucks of vegetables and fruits arrive at Azadpur Mandi from other states,” said Adil Khan, chairman Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee at Azadpur. “The number is down to around 1,000 trucks now, and if the borders remained closed for a few more days, the situation will worsen.” He, however, said the rates have not registered any significant increase since local produce and stocks are being sold.

Doctors and other health professionals have, meanwhile, expressed concern that the agitation might may act as “superspreader” event for coronavirus infection. The national capital has already been witnessing a spike in Covid-19 cases post-Diwali and with winter setting in. Samiran Panda, who heads the epidemiology and communicable diseases (ECD) division of the Indian Council of Medical Research, sought strict compliance of protective and preventive behaviour to curb the spread of the infection.