Farmer leaders to attend May 4 talks with Centre: Jagjit Dallewal

Farmer leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal Monday said the farmers' agitation will continue till the government accepts their demands, including a legal guarantee for minimum support price for crops.

He said farmer leaders would take part in the proposed May 4 talks with representatives of the Centre as they did not want to allow the government to make the excuse that the farmers did not attend the meeting. "We will attend the meeting and we will strongly put forth our demands."  Dallewal, who ended his indefinite hunger strike on Sunday after 130 days, said their next course of action will be decided by the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) and Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM) in a meeting. He is a senior leader of a joint forum of these two outfits.

SKM (Non-Political) and KMM had led a farmers' agitation at the Shambhu and Khanauri border points between Punjab and Haryana for over a year after security forces did not allow them to march to Delhi to press for their demands. The protest sites were cleared by police on March 19.

Dallewal on Sunday informed a 'Kisan Mahapanchayat' in Punjab's Fatehgarh Sahib district that he had acceded to the request of the "Sangat" to end his fast-unto-death. He was discharged from a private hospital in Khanna on Monday, a day after being admitted there for a checkup.

Interacting with reporters in Khanna, the farmer leader asserted that the agitation has not ended. "It will continue till our demands, including a legal guarantee for MSP, are accepted," he said.

Dallewal said that 'Kisan Mahapanchayats' were being held in many parts of Punjab as "part of this agitation".

"In the coming days, we will hold a meeting of both the forums and decide about the next strategy," he said in response to a question.

When asked about the proposed May 4 meeting between the farmers and representatives of the Union government, Dallewal said farmer leaders would take part in it.

They do not want to give any excuse for the government to say that farmers did not attend the meeting, he stressed. "We will attend the meeting and we will strongly put forth our demands."  Another farmer leader Abhimanyu Kohar said that their fight would continue till their demands were accepted. He said that 'Kisan Mahapanchayats' would also be held in Haryana and Rajasthan.

Dallewal ended his fast-unto-death more than a fortnight after Punjab Police cracked down on agitating farmers, detaining their leaders in Mohali when they were returning from a meeting with a Central delegation led by Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan in Chandigarh.

The March 19 meeting was organised to discuss the farmers' demands, especially the MSP guarantee. Police also evicted farmers and dismantled temporary structures from the Shambhu and Khanauri border points where the sit-ins were being held.