NEW DELHI/CHANDIGARH: A day after the protesting farmers ruled out any further talks until the government “draws up a new agenda”, the Centre on Thursday wrote to them again, reiterating it was open to negotiation and requested the farmers to suggest a date and time of their choice for the next meeting.
The protesting unions also alleged on Thursday that the government's latest letter for talks is nothing but a propaganda against the peasants to create an impression that they are not interested in dialogue and asked it to put the scrapping of the three recent farm laws in the agenda to resume the parley.
In the letter, joint secretary in the Union agriculture ministry Vivek Agarwal stated the government is ready to discuss all existing issues with an “open mind”. “It is important for the government to have talks with all farmers unions of the country.
The government has been talking with unions under the Sanyukt Morcha with an open mind and also desires to talk with you in the future as per your convince,’’ stated the two-page letter.
The unions, however, termed the letter a “delaying tactic”. Bharatiya Kisan Union, Punjab (Lakowal) General Secretary Harinder Singh Lakowal said the unions will soon hold a meeting to discuss and prepare a reply.
“In today’s letter again, the government is beating around the bush. Prime Minister Narendra Modi should call the protesting farmers with a concrete proposal but he is trying to find and talk to a select few farmers at Kutch in Gujarat,” Lakowal said.
In its latest letter, which is in response to the farmers’ reply on Wednesday seeking “a concrete proposal” from the government, the Centre highlighted that it has already given written assurances on all issues raised by the unions in past meetings.
It reiterated that the three new farm bills have nothing to do with the minimum support price (MSP) for procurement, but assured the farmers that the government will continue to procure crops on MSP.
As things stand now, the agitating farmers are unwilling to stand down from their core demand for a complete withdrawal of the contentious farm laws and a legal guarantee from the government on MSP.
The unions said the minimum support price (MSP) cannot be separated from the demand of repealing the contentious agriculture laws, asserting that the issue of a legal guarantee for the MSP is a key part of their agitation.
The Sanyukt Kisan Morcha, an umbrella body of 40 farmer unions protesting at three border points of Delhi -- Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur -- for the last 27 days, is likely to hold a meeting on Friday to discuss the Centre's letter and respond to it formally.
The government's letter comes a day after the morcha asked it not to repeat the proposal of "meaningless" amendments that they have already rejected but to come up with a "concrete offer" in writing for the resumption of talks.
"The government is not serious about our demands and they are writing letters every day. The new letter is nothing but a propaganda being created by the government against us to give an impression that we are not interested in holding talks."
"The government should bring the repeal of the three farm laws in the agenda for a fresh round of dialogue," senior morcha leader Shiv Kumar Kakka told PTI.
He said a legal guarantee of the MSP is an important part of the farmers' demands, which cannot be neglected by the government.
In his letter to the 40 farm unions, Aggarwal said, "I again request you that the government has been discussing all issues with an open heart and good intentions to end the protest, and will continue to do so. Kindly suggest a date and time (for the next round of talks)."
Another farmer leader, Lakhvir Singh, said the government's letter to the unions does not have any new proposal.
"They (government) can say that the laws will not affect the MSP, but the fact is that if the FCI (Food Corporation of India) is not there in the market, who will buy our crops at the MSP? "Even today, of the 23 crops that come under the ambit of the MSP, only wheat and rice, and sometimes cotton is bought at the MSP," Singh, the vice president of the All India Kisan Sabha (Punjab), claimed.
Avtar Singh Mehma, press secretary, Krantikari Kisan Union, said the Centre can keep claiming that the laws will not affect the MSP system, but farmers want an MSP guarantee act that will ensure that their crop is sold at the minimum support price.
"The Sanyukt Kisan Morcha will meet on Friday to discuss the government's letter and then respond to it," he said.
Five rounds of talks between the government and the unions have failed to break the deadlock, with the farmers insisting on a repeal of the three laws and camping at various border points of the national capital for nearly a month now.
Aggarwal asked the unions to provide details of the other issues they want to discuss.
The talks will be held at the Vigyan Bhawan here at a ministerial level, he said.
On the MSP, the official said the farm laws have no connection with the price regime nor would have any impact on the procurement of farm produce at the fixed rates.
This has been told to the unions in every discussion and it has also been made clear that the government is ready to give a written assurance on the MSP, he said.
Enacted in September, the three farm laws have been projected by the Centre as major reforms in the agriculture sector that will remove the middlemen and allow farmers to sell their produce anywhere in the country.
However, the protesting farmers have expressed the apprehension that the new laws would pave the way for eliminating the safety cushion of the MSP and do away with the "mandi" (wholesale market) system, leaving them at the mercy of big corporates.
(With PTI Inputs)