CHANDIGARH: Farmer unions on Friday intensified their agitation by announcing a Bharat Bandh on Tuesday (December 8) if the Centre fails to agree to repeal three contentious farm sector reform laws that were rammed through by Parliament.
This hardening of stand came a day ahead of the fifth round of talks with the government.
Rejecting the government’s offer to suitably amend the laws to address their concerns during Thursday’s talks, the Sanyukt Kisan Morcha’s meeting at the Singhu border unanimously decided to explore other means as well to bring the Centre to its knees, including laying siege to toll plazas across the country to stop them from charging toll tax from commuters and choking all entry points to Delhi.
According to sources, the government has worked out possible solutions to the provisions on which the farmer leaders have raised objections in a bid to break the deadlock.
Farmer leaders held a meeting during the day to decide the future course of action.
Addressing a press conference later, one of the leaders Gurnam Singh Chadoni said if the Centre on Saturday does not accept their demand of repealing the three farm laws, they will intensify their agitation.
"In our meeting today, we have decided to give a Bharat bandh call on December 8 during which we will also occupy all toll plazas," said Harinder Singh Lakhwal, general secretary of Bharatiya Kisan Union.
"We have planned to block all roads leading to Delhi in the coming days if the farm laws are not scrapped," he also said.
He said that farmers will protest against the central government and corporate houses and burn their effigies on Saturday, adding that on December 7, sportspersons will return their medals in solidarity with the farmers.
Though a timeline for the new agitation programme is yet to be firmed up, the earlier decision on burning effigies of the Modi government and corporate leaders on Saturday will happen as scheduled.
Also, the award wapsi that began on Thursday with Badal Senior returning his Padma Vibhushan, would intensify on Monday, they decided. In all, 51 union leaders participated.
All 32 protesting farmer unions had a joint session before the marathon meeting of the Sanyukt Kisan Morcha.
Though farmers will participate in the next round of talks with the Centre on Saturday, a categorical assurance on repealing the three laws and constitutional guarantees on the minimum support price (MSP) regime alone will take the process forward, they said.
Bharatiya Kisan Union, Punjab (Lakhowal Group) general secretary Harvinder Singh Lakhowal said, “Now that farmers from across the country are with us, dharnas will be held in Karnataka, Maharashtra and elsewhere. It’s no longer an agitation restricted to Punjab farmers. We have told the government to call a special session of Parliament to repeal the three farm laws.’’
Bharatiya Kisan Union general secretary Yudhvir said, “Farmers are upset across the country. We have told our state leaders to get the farmers ready for a long battle as the government wants to test our patience.’’
Political support for the protest snowballed on Friday with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav announcing a series of agitations in solidarity.
Mamata spoke to various groups of agitating farmers and announced street protests from next week in Bengal to amplify the call against the new farm laws.
The farmer leaders stuck to their demand that the Centre call a special session of Parliament to repeal the new farm laws, adding that the protestors do not want amendments but their scrapping.
Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar will lead the government side, also comprising Food Minister Piyush Goyal and Minister of State of Commerce and Industry Som Parkash, in the crucial round of talks on Saturday.
In the previous meeting on Thursday, Tomar had assured 40 farmer union leaders that the government is open to considering ways to strengthen APMC mandis, create a level-playing field with proposed private markets, and provide a provision for approaching higher courts for dispute resolution, while asserting that procurement at minimum support price (MSP) will continue.
But the other side stuck to their demand of repealing the three "hastily-passed" farm laws, saying that the legislations with several loopholes and deficiencies cannot be amended.
Bharatiya Kisan Union leader Rakesh Tikait said the farmers are hoping that the government will meet their demands during the fifth round of talks.
"The government and the farmers did not reach any decision during the meeting held on Thursday. The government wants to make amendments to the three laws, but we want the laws to be completely repealed," Tikait told PTI.
Meanwhile, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the farm reform legislations were brought in after elaborate stakeholder consultations and a lot of homework, and will benefit farmers.
Asserting that the reforms were not done in a jiffy, she said the agriculture minister is meeting farmers with an open mind and hoped that a solution will be found soon.
Throughout the day, Delhi's border points remained choked as thousands of farmers from Haryana, Punjab, and other states held demonstrations for the ninth consecutive day.
Traffic moved at snail's pace at several border points of the national capital as police kept key routes connecting Delhi to Haryana and Uttar Pradesh closed.
A senior police officer said that the situation at Chilla and Ghazipur borders remained peaceful, adding that tight security arrangements are in place as part of precautionary measures.
Farmers staying put at the Chilla Border between Delhi and Noida performed a 'havan' on a partially closed highway and offered prayers wishing "good sense" for the government.
The farmers' groups continued to garner support from various quarters with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee assured them that her party TMC stands by them.
The Indian National Lok Dal said the government should listen to the farmers and expressed its willingness to join any front floated by the Shiromani Akali Dal for their cause.
In Delhi, India summoned Canadian High Commissioner Nadir Patel and told him that the comments made by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and others in his cabinet on the farmers' protest constituted an "unacceptable interference" in the country's internal affairs and these actions, if continued, will have a "seriously damaging" impact on the bilateral ties.
Enacted in September, the three farm laws have been projected by the government as major reforms in the agriculture sector that will remove the middlemen and allow farmers to sell anywhere in the country.
However, the protesting farmers have expressed apprehension that the new laws would pave the way for eliminating the safety cushion of Minimum Support Price and scrap the mandis, leaving them at the mercy of big corporates.
The Centre has repeatedly asserted that these mechanisms will remain.
Around 500 farmers belonging to Bundelkhand region reached Palwal in Haryana and started a protest on the Delhi-Agra national highway, the group's national president Vimal Kumar Sharma said on Friday.
A group of 500 farmers belonging to the Bundelkhand region had started from Banda district to join the farmers protest against the new farm laws in the national capital, Sharma said on phone from Palwal.
On reaching Palwal, the farmers blocked one lane of the national highway and on Saturday, another lane will be blocked, Sharma warned.
He added that 300 farmers belonging to Hoshangabad and Gwalior of Madhya Pradesh are also sitting with the the farmers associated with Bundelkhand Kisan Union while around 1,000 farmers from Bundelkhand region are also leaving to join the protest on Saturday and Sunday.
RSS affiliate suggests change in farm laws
RSS-affiliate Bharatiya Kisan Sangh proposed on Friday four amendments to the three contentious central farm laws to make it "farmer-friendly" and address the apprehensions that have led to protests.
Thousands of farmers have gathered at Delhi's gateways to demand a repeal of the new farm laws.
The protesters are worried the legislations would eliminate the safety cushion of a minimum support price (MSP), while rendering ineffective the wholesale market system that ensures earnings for various stakeholders in the farm sector.
"Instead of scrapping the new laws as some organisations have been demanding, we propose four amendments in these legislations," BKS general secretary Badri Narayan Chaudhary said, adding that it would be enough to address the apprehensions.
The amendments are that there should be no purchasing below the MSP in the wholesale markets or outside, registration of all traders on a government portal that can be accessed by all, payment to the farmers in a stipulated time through bank guarantee and setting up of the agriculture tribunals for resolution of farmers' disputes in their hometown itself.
The BKS welcomed the new laws that it said was a "long-pending demand".
Chaudhary said the outfit had been pushing for 'one nation-one market' since long.
The BKS leader said the wholesale markets were introduced with the welfare of farmers in mind and it helped them a lot.
"But gradually, it became a means of exploitation of farmers," he said, adding that many organisations had been demanding rectification in the system for a long time.
(With PTI Inputs)