CHANDIGARH: The protesting farmers said on Saturday they were ready for talks with the union government, but only to discuss the repeal of the three farm laws and not any amendment as proposed by the government.
They also announced a oneday hunger strike and siege of offices of deputy commissioners on December 14 and blocking of the Delhi-Jaipur highway on Sunday. "We are ready for talks with the union government but the government has to first discuss the repealing of the three farm Bills as we are not in favour of amendments. We will move onto our other demands only after that," Sanyukta Kisan Andolan leader Kamalpreet Singh Pannu said.
Pannu alleged that the government had made attempts to divide the farmers. "It (government) wants to thwart our movement and a few small attempts to divide us and instigate the people against our movement were made, but we will foil all those attempts and will continue the agitation peacefully," he said.
The farm leader listed out their agitation plan for the coming days. Pannu said on Sunday farmers from Rajasthan would march to Delhi and block the Delhi-Jaipur highway and on Monday they would picket DC offices.
"We have decided to intensify our agitation. We have given a call to women to intensify their protest and will make all arrangements for them," he said, adding that the Haryana Police put up boulders and barricades at the Khanauri border to stop the additional Punjab farmers moving towards Delhi.
He claimed that farmers from other parts were also on their way to join the protesters at the Singhu border and they would take the agitation to the next level in the coming days.
Haryana BKU president Gurnam Singh Charuni announced that he would begin an indefinite hunger strike from December 19 if their demands were not met by then. On Saturday, the farmers took over the Bastara toll plaza near Karnal and the Shambu toll plaza near Ambala on the Delhi-Amritsar highway.