Centre to have 9th round of talks with the farmers today

The Union Government has scheduled the ninth round of talks with the leaders and representatives of the farmer unions who were protesting along the several borders across New Delhi demanding the repealing of the three contentious farm laws passed by the Centre amid the monsoon session in September. The meeting will be organized at Vigyan Bhawan and will start at 2 pm.

Prior to the scheduled talks, Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) spokesperson Rakesh Tikait addressed the issue by comparing it with legal metaphor iterating that government is constantly pushing the date like the court hearing without a case in place. He stated, “Government is giving tareekh pe tareekh (dates after dates) with a case. They (the government) are also trying to using the probable spread of the COVID-19 virus as an excuse to end our protest. Political parties held large gatherings during the Bihar elections and also in Telangana. If COVID-19 starts spreading here we’ll see.”

Tikait emphasized on their perspective, saying the farmers will go back once their pleas have been heard and the agricultural laws have been revoked. He also revealed the plan of the farmers for the Republic Day parade to take out a tractor march together with tanks of the Indian Army.

Tikat further stated, “We are going to take out a tractor march on January 26 with the Indian Army. Army tanks will be on one side and the tractors on the other. A hundred tractors will march with one tableau. The government should make full preparations regarding this.”

On January 4, the Centre and the leaders of the farmer unions had an eight round of talks, which did not resolve the issue or presented any conclusion. Post the meeting, Union Agricultural Minister Narendra Singh Tomar revealed the meeting was inconclusive and could not resolve with any solution as the farmer unions were stubborn demanding the revoking of three farm laws.

Farmers have been protesting from November 26 along the borders of New Delhi to demand revoking the three farm laws passed by Centre in September which are 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.

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