NEW DELHI: "We take decisions unanimously. It is about consensus and not majority," farmer leader Shiv Kumar Kakka said on Wednesday, explaining why the unions "completely" rejected the government proposal to amend the new agri laws.
He also said that there were no differences among farmer unions as was being reported by a section of the media.
At the meeting of farmers' representatives on Wednesday afternoon, everybody agreed that the three new laws be scrapped and a specific law be enacted on the Minimum Support Price (MSP), he said.
"We take decisions unanimously. It is about consensus and not majority. It cannot be that some people are agreeing to it and others are not. If all unions say the laws should be scrapped, that's our decision. There is no question of having a personal opinion," Kakka said.
"In all five meetings with the farmer unions, the government held marathon discussions on the same points (that figured in the proposal). Finally, we asked them (government) to answer in 'yes or no'. whether they want to repeal the three new laws and guarantee MSP or not?" Kakka said.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah also said the same thing.
The farmer leaders told him they do not want to talk on those points anymore, he claimed.
"When we asked Amit Shah why you did not consult farmers before enacting the three laws, he acknowledged that some mistakes had been made. Shah also told the farmer leaders that the government is ready to make more amendments to the three laws if there is a need for it," Kakka claimed.
"Then he sent us the proposal this morning and it had the same points that were discussed in the five meetings. There was nothing new," he said, explaining why the farmer leaders rejected the government's proposal to amend agri laws.
It is the Centre, and not the farmers, which is prolonging the ongoing demonstration against the new agriculture laws at Delhi's borders by not addressing the issues, a farmer union leader alleged on Wednesday as the protest entered its ninth day here.
Scores of protestors, who belong to various districts of western Uttar Pradesh and are chiefly members of the Bharatiya Kisan Union's Bhanu and Lok Shakti factions, are camping at the Noida-Delhi border amid heavy deployment of police personnel.
According to officials, both carriageways of the Delhi-Noida Link road, a key route connecting UP and the national capital, remained closed for commuters on Wednesday also due to the farmers' stir at the Chilla border.
"Commuters to and from Delhi have been advised to take either the DND route or the Kalindi Kunj route instead of the Link Road via Chilla," an official said.
In Noida, the protestors belonging to BKU (Bhanu) are staying put at Chilla border, while those from BKU (Lok Shakti) are camping at the Dalit Prerna Sthal since December 1.
They are opposed to the three farm laws passes by the Centre in September and are demanding that these legislations be withdrawn.
Asked about the protest continuing for the ninth day, Rajeev Nagar, a local farmers' union leader said, "It is not the farmers but the government that is prolonging the protest."
"The government knows our demands and knows well about our peaceful demonstration. It can address our concern and we will be gone. We do not want to sit here for long, we have got our farms and cattle to look after," Nagar, the Gautam Buddh Nagar unit president of the BKU (Bhanu), told PTI.
He said a 'mahapanchayat' of the farmers belonging to western UP and opposed to the new farm laws is expected to be held on Wednesday afternoon.
The protestors who have gathered at the Noida border want to proceed to Delhi to join the bigger stir called chiefly by farmers from Punjab and Haryana.
Thousands of farmers are currently staying put at Delhi's borders with Haryana and Uttar Pradesh in protest against the Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.
They have expressed apprehension that these laws would pave the way for the dismantling of the minimum support price system, leaving them at the "mercy" of big corporations.
However, the government has maintained that the new laws will bring farmers better opportunities and usher in new technologies in agriculture.