Farmer unions defer call on Centre's fresh talks offer; Tomar still hopeful

Farmer leaders from across India to meet on Wednesday, decide on govt's talk offer; moves being made to dissuade Boris Johnson from attending R-Day as chief guest

Protesting farmer unions on Tuesday said that a decision on the central government's offer for fresh talks has been deferred to Wednesday, even as agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar remained hopeful that the unions will soon complete their internal discussions and resume talks with the government to resolve the crisis.

Addressing a press conference at Delhi's Singhu Border, farmer leader Kulwant Singh Sandhu said that 32 farmer unions from Punjab held a meeting and discussed the next course of action.

He said that a meeting of farmer leaders from across India would be held on Wednesday where a decision on the government's offer for talks will be taken.

Sandhu said that they would also write to Britain MPs, urging them to press their Prime Minister Boris Johnson not to attend India's Republic Day celebrations on January 26. Johnson will be the chief guest at the event next month.

In a letter to 40 union leaders, the Joint Secretary in the Union Agriculture Ministry, Vivek Aggarwal, had on Sunday asked protesting farmer leaders to specify their concerns over its earlier proposal of amendments in the laws and choose a convenient date for the next round of talks so that the ongoing agitation could end at the earliest.

The sixth round of talks on December 9 was cancelled following a deadlock with the farmer unions refusing to budge from their demand for repealing the three laws.

Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar meanwhile said that he was hopeful that the protesting farmers' unions will soon complete their internal discussions and come forward for talks.

“We will be able to find a solution successfully," the minister said, while addressing reporters after a meeting of farmers groups who have been supportive of the laws.

UP-based Kisan Sangarsh Samithi (KSS) and Delhi-based Indian Kisan Union (IKU) are among those farmer groups that have extended support to the laws in the last three weeks. The previous groups were from Haryana, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh.

However, nearly 40 groups are agitating against the laws on various Delhi borders.

The protesting groups have maintained that the new laws will eliminate the safety net of the minimum support price (MSP), do away with the mandi (wholesale market) system and leave them at the mercy of big corporates.

The government has been saying that these apprehensions are misplaced.