Agitation to continue at Delhi borders - Farmers protest: Centre accepts two lesser demands at meet

There has been no meeting point on the principal ask for repeal of the three new farm laws

OPTICS: Farm minister Tomar shares farmers’ food at Vigyan Bhavan : PTI

Anita Joshua   |   TT   |   New Delhi   |    31.12.20   : The Centre on Wednesday continued to resist the farmers’ call to repeal the new farm laws and enact legislation guaranteeing a minimum support price but accepted their lesser two demands at a meeting where the ministers appeared less patronising and more accommodating.

Although the government’s ecosystem sought to project the development as a breakthrough, the farmer union leaders were more circumspect, underlining the lack of progress on the two main demands.

Still, as acknowledgement of a change in the government’s attitude, the Sanyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) decided to defer Thursday’s planned tractor rally on the KMP Expressway till January 4, when the next meeting has been scheduled.

The protests at Delhi’s borders will continue, the farmer leaders said. They attributed the change in the government’s attitude to their movement’s increased strength and spread.

“There is no question of backing down as our main demands have not been met yet,” said Yogendra Yadav of the Jai Kisan Andolan, a member of the SKM.

What the government has agreed to can be described as targeting low-hanging fruits: keep farmers outside the ambit of the penalty clause for stubble burning in the ordinance on air quality management in the National Capital Region, and hold back the Electricity (Amendment) Bill that would reduce power subsidies.

There has been no meeting point on the farmers’ main demand for repeal of the three new farm laws.

However, Kavita Kurunganti of the Mahila Kisan Adhikar Manch, an SKM member, said the government had not tried to push the amendments it had been offering for a while now.

“The government has asked us to come up with an alternative to repeal,” she said.

The Centre’s move has given the farmer leaders the impression that the matter has become a point of prestige for the Narendra Modi government.

As for a law guaranteeing an MSP for all crops, Kavita and Hannan Mollah of the All India Kisan Sabha said the government refused to be buttonholed into saying it agreed to the guarantee in principle. The government cited the financial implications and laid stress on the need to work out the details, although this has been a longstanding demand.

Asked what the government had conceded, both union leaders said the two concessions had already been offered in some measure in the written communication sent to the SKM on December 9. This time, the government had agreed fully to these two “minor demands” from the farmers, they said.

Asked whether the government agreeing to these two demands could be termed a victory for the farmers, Hannan Mollah said: “It is an advancement, not a victory.”

Kavita underlined that the two demands the government had granted did not come under the ministers conducting the negotiations — agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar, his junior Kailash Chaudhury, food minister Piyush Goyal and the minister of state for commerce and industry, Som Prakash.

This suggests the government had come prepared to concede the lesser demands while holding its ground on the two main issues that have brought the farmers out on the streets.

Ahead of the meeting and through its duration, the union leaders had witnessed a concerted effort by the government to change the optics that had dominated the earlier five rounds of talks.

The ministers were more willing to listen and backed off when they were requested not to repeat their regular spiel about the three laws.

Also, the ministers joined the farmers for food from the langar of the Gurdwara Bangla Sahib, which has been providing the meals and tea for the union leaders through the various rounds of discussions.

The union leaders have repeatedly refused the hospitality offered by the government on the ground that they could not be eating in luxury when their fellow protesters were out on the roads.

The government had begun working on the optics from the morning, with defence minister Rajnath Singh frowning on the allegations levelled against the farmers by the BJP’s ecosystem, including some ministers. The accusations range from a Khalistani role to a Maoist influence on the protest.

In an interview to ANI, Rajnath said: “These allegations should not be made by anyone against farmers. We express our deepest respect towards our farmers.”