Farmers' stir: 11th round of talks ends; no date for next meet

Farmer leaders said they will intensify their agitation now and alleged that the government's approach was not right during the meeting

Taking a tough stand, the Narendra Modi government on Friday told the agitating farmers that suspending farm laws for 12 to 18 months was the best offer it could make to address their concerns over agricultural reforms, urging them to give up the demand for a rollback.

Emerging out of the 11th round of talks, the agitating farmers said they felt insulted by the Centre’s approach and declared they would go ahead with plans to take out a tractor rally on Republic Day to demand repeal of the farm laws. The farmers said the government has not given any fresh date for talks.

The government appeared to run out of patience as the farmers refused to budge from the demand for the repeal of the three farm laws – a stand they have maintained since the first round of talks with Agriculture Secretary Sanjay Agarwal on October 14.

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A farmers’ leader said Friday’s talks with Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar and his ministerial colleagues lasted barely 20 minutes and later the farmers and the government team remained seated in separate rooms. The ministerial panel returned to the meeting hall after more than three hours only to ask the farmers to reconsider the government proposal to suspend laws and get back by Saturday.

Tomar told reporters that the next round of talks would take place only when the farmers were ready to talk on the government proposal.

“We made proposals to amend the laws not because the farm sector reforms were flawed. We made the proposals in deference to the protesting farmers and to convey that the government was sensitive to their demands,” the minister said.

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He said the farmers did not follow the basic principles of negotiations and kept announcing new rounds of protests, knowing fully well that such an approach would affect the cordial nature of talks.

“The minister made us wait for three and a half hours. This is an insult to farmers. When he came, he asked us to consider the government proposal and concluded the meeting. We will continue our agitation peacefully,” S S Pandher, leader of the Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee said.