PHOTOS: The many hues of farmers' stir
Refusing to budge, thousands of farmers continue to spend night in the cold at the Singhu and Tikri border points. With the farmers rejecting the government's "conditional" offer for talks, the standoff showed no signs of easing.
Refusing to budge, thousands of farmers continue to spend night in the cold at the Singhu and Tikri border points. With the farmers rejecting the government's "conditional" offer for talks, the standoff showed no signs of easing. In a bid to clear apprehensions of the farmers, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his monthly address, batted for the new laws and said these reforms have given the farmers "new rights and opportunities" and have started mitigating their problems in a short span of time.
A meeting of over 30 farmer groups was held to discuss Union Minister Amit Shah’s offer for talks before the scheduled date of December 3 once they move to Burari in the city, but the thousands of protesters refused to budge and prepared for spending another night in the cold at the Singhu and Tikri border points.
The farmers who are protesting at Delhi's borders against the new farm laws said they will not accept any conditional dialogue and threatened to block all five entry points to the national capital.
The Home Ministry too assured the farmers' organisations that a high-level team of Union Ministers will talk to them once the protesters move to the designated site.
A meeting of over 30 farmer groups was held to discuss Union Minister Amit Shah’s offer for talks before the scheduled date of December 3 once they move to Burari in the city, but the thousands of protesters refused to budge and prepared for spending another night in the cold at the Singhu and Tikri border points. Their representatives said Shah’s condition that they shift the protest is not acceptable and claimed Burari ground is an "open jail".
Opposition parties too pressed the government to initiate an unconditional dialogue with the farmers.
Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla in a letter to 32 farmers organisations sent on Saturday cited the cold conditions and the COVID-19 outbreak and said the farmers should move to the Burari ground where adequate facilities have been made for them.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah had on Saturday said that a delegation of the farmers has been invited for a discussion on December 3 but as some of their unions have demanded that talks should be held immediately, the central government is ready to do so as soon as the protesters shift to the ground in Burari.
The central government has reached out to the farmers underscoring its willingness to hold talks with them. It has also asserted that concerns expressed by some farm bodies about the new laws are misplaced, asserting that existing support measures like the Minimum Support Price (MSP) and state-run 'mandis' will remain in place.
In his monthly 'Mann Ki Baat' broadcast, Prime Minister Modi said "correct information, away from rumours and confusion of any kind" is a big strength for people in any field, as he spoke about a couple of farmers involved with innovative practices in the field.
"The demands, which were made by farmers for years and regarding which every political party at some point of time had made promises, have been fulfilled...These reforms have not only freed them of various shackles but also given them new rights and new opportunities. These rights have begun mitigating farmers' problems in a very short span of time," he said on the new farm laws. (With PTI inputs)