CHANDIGARH: A day ahead of the fourth round of talks between farm leaders and Union ministers, the former today demanded that the government bring an ordinance giving a legal guarantee to Minimum Support Price (MSP).
The Bharti Kisan Union (Ekta Ugrahan), the biggest farmer union in Punjab, has extended support to the farmers’ ‘Delhi Chalo’ call and has decided to join the protesters.
This can make things more difficult for the government as this union today started two-day sit-ins outside the residences of Punjab BJP chief Sunil Jakhar, former CM and BJP leader Capt Amarinder Singh and former MLA Kewal Singh Dhillon.
“The Centre can bring an ordinance overnight if it wants to. If the government wants a resolution, then it should issue a fiat immediately and clearly state that it will enact a law on MSP. The discussions then can proceed. After all, any ordinance is valid for six months,’’ said Sarwan Singh Pandher general secretary of Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee. He joined the farmers at the Shambhu border.
Commenting on the farm loan waiver demand raised by farmers, Pandher said, “It is a question of willpower. The government is saying the loan amount has to be assessed. The government can collect data from banks.’’
Union ministers Arjun Munda, Piyush Goyal and Nityanand Rai and farmer leaders would meet on Sunday for the fourth round of talks. The earlier three meetings on February 8, 12 and 15 remained inconclusive.
Headed by Joginder Singh Ugrahan, the Bharti Kisan Union (Ekta Ugrahan) is the biggest farm union of the state with a massive support base in the Malwa belt of the state.
Ugrahan said that if the farm union leaders had formed a united front, much more could have been accomplished. "There is still potential for significant progress. We have resolved to join the protest,’’ he said.
Bharti Kisan Union (Ekta-Ugrahan) members from Patiala have blocked the road outside the residence of former CM and BJP leader Capt Amarinder Singh.
They are demonstrating against his alleged silence on the ongoing farmer protest at Shambhu border and the action of Haryana Police, which resulted in over 100 farmers sustaining injuries.
The union will also hold protests across 21 toll plazas in the state.
On the fifth day of their "Delhi Chalo" march -- called by the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) and the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha -- the farmers stayed put at the two border points of Punjab and Haryana as they press the Centre to accept their demands, including a legal guarantee of a minimum support price (MSP) for crops.
Besides a legal guarantee for MSP, the farmers are demanding implementation of the Swaminathan Commission's recommendations, pension for farmers and farm labourers, farm debt waiver, no hike in electricity tariff, withdrawal of police cases and "justice" for the victims of the 2021 Lakhimpur Kheri violence, reinstatement of the Land Acquisition Act - 2013, and compensation to the families of the farmers who died during a previous agitation in 2020-21.
(With PTI inputs)
