A message in farmers’ consent to government talks - Protesters will attend their ninth meeting with interlocutors

Protesters will attend their ninth meeting with interlocutors on Friday after refusing to engage with a Supreme Court-appointed committee

A protest at the Ghazipur border near Delhi on Thursday.: Prem Singh

Anita Joshua   |   TT   |   New Delhi   |    15.01.21  :  The protesting farmers will attend their ninth meeting with government interlocutors on Friday after refusing to engage with a Supreme Court-appointed committee, having drawn a clear distinction between mediation and direct conversation with the executive.

There had been some doubt over the meeting taking place in the light of the Supreme Court appointing a committee to resolve the stalemate over the three farm laws. But the farm union leaders said they would go to Vigyan Bhavan at the appointed time as the last meeting on January 8 had ended with the understanding that they would meet again on January 15.

Agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar too told reporters in the evening that the meeting was on.

Some doubt had persisted till Thursday afternoon about whether the meeting would take place. Since no separate invitations are usually sent out for meetings already agreed, none was forthcoming.

All India Kisan Sabha general secretary Hannan Mollah told a news conference: “Normally there is no special invitation after a date for the next meeting is fixed at the last interaction. We will just turn up as always. Let’s see.”

Mollah explained why the farmers were meeting the government while turning their backs on the Supreme Court-appointed committee.

“We had always said that we do not want any mediation. We want to talk directly to the government,” he said.

Mollah added that the committee offered no hope, anyway, because “the government knows that its script is in play”.

Nor are the farmers expecting a change of heart on the government’s part on repealing the new farm laws. They reckon the government would use the matter being in court as a pretext not to discuss it.

In that event, the unions are likely to stress that even on their two lesser demands relating to the pollution ordinance and electricity bill, the government is yet to give them in writing what it promised them last month.

The farm unions are mobilising protesters to further widen their agitation while fire-fighting against the canards being spread by the government’s supporters about the movement being infiltrated by Khalistanis.

Apart from the planned “Kisan Parade” on Republic Day after the main parade, the unions are gearing for demonstrations before the various Raj Bhavans on the premise that the governors represent the Centre in the states.

The idea is to create multiple pressure points across the country similar to those at Delhi’s borders. Named “Mahapadav”, the protests before the Raj Bhavans have been planned between January 20 and 22 in Bengal, January 24 and 26 in Maharashtra, January 23 and 25 in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Kerala, and on January 23 in Odisha.

As for the Kisan Parade, the union leaders have repeatedly clarified that they have no plans to disrupt the Republic Day parade.

“Our parade is planned after the main Republic Day parade. We will use only the national flag and our respective union flags. The modalities will be worked out at the next meeting of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha on Sunday,” a union leader said.

A veteran farmer leader, Balbir Singh Rajewal, has written an open letter to all the protesting farmers underscoring the need to keep the movement peaceful if it is to succeed.

He has argued that the movement’s strength lies in demonstrating that even such a huge congregation of protesters from multiple unions can agitate peacefully for such a long time. It is this that has struck a chord with people, not just in India but across the word, he said.

“This resolve to keep the movement peaceful should not weaken,” Rajewal wrote, urging everyone to continue with the protest peacefully.

The letter comes amid concerns that the protesters’ frustration might boil over at the government’s stalling tactics, more so with mischief makers trying to orchestrate trouble to discredit the movement.