NEW DELHI: A direct unscheduled intervention by Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday failed to break the ongoing impasse, with the agitating farmers saying they will not end their protest until the government rescinds the recently enacted farm sector reform laws.
The nearly three-hour-long talks Shah had with a select group of farmer leaders remained inconclusive. The agitators later said the sixth rounds of talks scheduled for Wednesday will not take place.
In all, 13 farmer leaders were called for the meeting, which began after 8.30 pm at the International guest house of Indian Council for Agriculture Research in the Pusa area, in the presence of Union agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar and agriculture secretary Sanjay Agarwal. Eight of the 13 were from Punjab.
Sources said Shah was firm on ruling out a rollback of the farm laws but was willing to introduce more amendments to address various concerns.
However, there were conflicting versions on whether making the Minimum Support Price mechanism legally binding would be part of the basket of proposals the government will give in writing on Wednesday.
Sources said when Shah asserted that the repeal of the laws was out of the question, the farmers retorted that their agitation, too, could not be withdrawn.
Shah then came up with the offer of fresh amendments, which he agreed to provide in writing on Wednesday.
Since all 32 farmer unions will meet to take their call on Wednesday, the possibility of a fresh round of talks with the Centre on Thursday exists.
A Union Cabinet meeting is scheduled for Wedneday. Hanan Mollah, general secretary of All India Kisan Sabha, who was among the participants, said: “No meeting will be held between farmers and the government on Wednesday.”
A Bharat Bandh observed by farmers to press their demands evoked mixed response and affected life in some states on Tuesday.
Even before the meeting with Shah started, some farmer organisations expressed unhappiness over the truncated list of negotiators.
Besides, Punjab Kisan Union head Ruldu Singh Mansa decided to skip the meeting over a last-minute change in the venue. Earlier, it was proposed to be held at Shah’s residence.
Speaking to reporters, Mansa said he won’t attend the meeting, but it later turned out that he did participate.
Many questioned the names of people invited for negotiations with Shah, as Joginder Singh Ugrahan, head of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ugrahan) was not part of the delegation.
His is one of the most popular and aggressive farmer unions in Punjab having the largest membership base.
“The invite came only to farmer leaders from Punjab but they decided to co-opt senior leaders of other unions,” said a leader.
It was then that Shiv Kumar Sharma Kakaji of the Rashtriya Kisan Mahasangh, Hannan Mollah of All India Kisan Sabha, Rakesh Tikait of BKU and Haryana Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) president Gurnam Singh Chaduni were added to the list, he revealed.
At the meeting, Shah requested farmer leaders "to end the agitation and said the government will send a proposal in writing. Some farmer unions asked why the government did not consult them before bringing these laws. To which, the ministers. said there is no point in looking back," Rashtriya Kisan Mazdoor Mahasangh national president Shiv Kumar Kakka said.
Farmer leader Darshan Pal of AIKSCC, who attended the meeting with Shah, said, "The central government will send us a note on our demands tomorrow. There won't be any meeting between the Union government and farmer leaders tomorrow."
However, a few leaders who attended the meeting with Shah appeared to be in favour of necessary amendments and assurances on the minimum support price (MSP) regime and the mandi system rather than a complete repeal of the laws enacted in September, indicating some kind of divisions among the unions.
Mollah said a final decision on attending the sixth round of talks will be taken at a meeting of union leaders Wednesday noon at Singhu border, where thousands of farmers have been camping for the last 12 days demanding the repeal of the laws.
However, there was no official words from the government on the status of Wednesday's scheduled meeting.
After the fifth round of talks on Saturday, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar had said that the next meeting had been scheduled for 11 am on December 9.
Shah's meeting with the 13 farmer leaders began after 8 pm and ended around midnight.
Some farmer leaders said they first expected the meeting would take place at Shah's residence here, but the venue was shifted to National Agricultural Science Complex, Pusa.
The meeting appeared to have created a discord among the organisations spearheading the protests on Delhi's borders with the head of the BKU (Ugrahan), which is one of the largest outfits in the bloc, questioning the rationale of the talks a day before the scheduled official consultations.
In a social media post, Joginder Singh Ugrahan, who was not invited to the meeting with Shah, said there was no need for the talks before official consultations and hoped that the leaders attending today's meet would keep in mind the view of the larger group.
Farmer leaders have been firm on their demand for repeal of three new farm laws enacted in September.
"We will demand just a 'yes' or a 'no' from Home Minister Amit Shah," farmer leader Rudru Singh Mansa told reporters earlier in the day at the Singhu border.
Farmer leaders have claimed that the laws will benefit corporates and end the mandi system and the minimum support price (MSP) regime.
The government has maintained that it is committed to the welfare of farmers and have presented these laws as major reforms for their benefits.
(With PTI Inputs)