Farmers Movement Archive

Amit Shah offers farmers early talks if they move to Burari ground

NEW DELHI: In an effort to reach out to protesting farmers who have reached Delhi borders, Union home minister Amit Shah on Saturday said talks can be held before the scheduled date of December 3 if the agitating agriculturists move to the site in Burari that has been prepared for them where provisions and medical facilities have been arranged. "As soon as you reach the ground in Burari, the government will call you for talks the next day," said Shah. Responding to the offer, Jagjit Singh, Punjab president of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU), said, "Amit Shahji has called for an early meeting on a condition. It’s not good. He should have offered talks with an open heart without any condition. We’ll hold a meeting tomorrow (Sunday) morning to decide our response." It remains to be seen whether discussions among farm leaders over the offer will result in a thaw. Shah, meanwhile, will be away most of Sunday in Hyderabad campaigning for the civic elections. The stalemate has created a siege-like situation at some of the entry points to Delhi as farmers are squatting along the highways and more are expected to arrive from areas other than Punjab and Haryana. Officials said the government's decision to offer lodging at Burari also encouraged more farmers to embark for Delhi. On the Centre's part, the Burari site was intended to be a conciliatory gesture even as agriculture minister Narendra Tomar has not ruled out discussing a key demand that the provision for minimum support prices be given legislative protection. After Delhi Police on Friday agreed to give protesting farmers passage into the capital, more and more farmers from Punjab and Haryana on Saturday continued their onward march and assembled at the Delhi-Haryana Singhu border. Protests against the new farm laws, which aim to allow trade areas to be expanded, contract farming and removal of stock limits, have been largely centred in Punjab and to a less extent in Haryana. Ahead of the "Delhi Chalo" protest, BKU leaders in western UP said they would not participate in the march but some of them have now said they will reach the capital. Farm representatives under the "Samyukt Kisan" movement of AIKSCC, Rashtriya Kisan Mazdoor Sangh, BKU (Rajewal), BKU (Chaduni) and other organisations urged the government "to immediately address the issues of the farmers and solve them rather than create subterfuges about talks with no solution in mind". Since farmers of other states, including Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Telangana, have also joined protests against the farm laws, these groups wanted the government to make the talks more broad-based without limiting it to the farmers’ representatives from Punjab. Watch Will hold talks with farmers as soon as they move to designated spot: Amit Shah

The Times of India

2020-11-29

India