Cordial talks held with farmers, next meeting on March 19: Shivraj Chouhan

Union Food Minister Pralhad Joshi also attended the meeting on Centre's behalf

Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Saturday said that the fresh round of talks with farmer leaders in Chandigarh to discuss the contentious issue of a guaranteed Minimum Support Price (MSP), among other demands, was held in a cordial atmosphere. He added that the next round of discussions will take place on March 19.

 

Union Food Minister Pralhad Joshi also attended the meeting on behalf of the Centre. This was the first meeting between the protesting farmers and the Union Agriculture Minister.

 

Speaking to the media after the meeting, Chouhan reiterated that discussions with the farmers took place in a cordial atmosphere.

   

"The central team presented the farmers' welfare programme, which is a priority for the Narendra Modi government, during the meeting," Chouhan said.

 

"We heard the views of farmer leaders Jagjit Singh Dallewal and Sarwan Singh Pandher. A very productive discussion took place. The talks will continue, and the next meeting will be held in Chandigarh on March 19," the minister stated after the meeting, which lasted nearly three hours.

 

Chouhan, along with Joshi, arrived at the Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Public Administration—the meeting venue—at 6:05 pm to meet the 28-member farmers' delegation.

 

Punjab Cabinet ministers Harpal Singh Cheema, Gurmeet Singh Khuddian, and Lal Chand Kataruchak were also present at the meeting.

 

Meanwhile, the Congress has criticized the AAP-led Punjab government for Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann's absence from the meeting between the Centre and the farmers.

 

Leader of Opposition in the Punjab Assembly, Partap Singh Bajwa, told the media that the absence of the Punjab CM from such a crucial meeting demonstrates a lack of sincerity on the farmers' issues. He questioned why the Chief Minister chose to visit Sangrur instead of attending this important meeting in Chandigarh, calling it a sign of the state government's non-seriousness.

 

Dallewal (70) has been on a fast-unto-death at the Khanauri border point between Punjab and Haryana since November 26, 2024, pressing the Centre to accept the farmers' demands.

 

The farmers, under the banners of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) and Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM), have been camping at the Shambhu and Khanauri border points between Punjab and Haryana since February 13 last year, after security forces blocked their march to Delhi.

 

Besides a legal guarantee for MSP, the farmers are demanding a debt waiver, pensions for farmers and farm labourers, no increase in electricity tariffs, the withdrawal of police cases against farmers, and justice for the victims of the 2021 Lakhimpur Kheri violence in Uttar Pradesh.

 

They are also calling for the reinstatement of the Land Acquisition Act, 2013, and compensation for the families of farmers who died during the previous agitation in 2020-21.