Centre offers to suspend farm laws; unions to talk - an undertaking in the Supreme Court to suspend the implementation of the three new farm laws for 1.5 years

Conscious that the govt was blinking only because it wants to stop the tractor rally, 40 unions leading the talks remained non-committal

Narendra Singh Tomar along with Minister for Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal addresses media after the 10th round of meeting with farmer: PTI

Anita Joshua   |   TT    |    New Delhi   |    21.01.21 : The Centre on Wednesday offered to submit an undertaking in the Supreme Court to suspend the implementation of the three new farm laws for one to one-and-a-half years in a move that would be just short of the repeal that the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) has been demanding.

Conscious that the government was blinking only because it wants to somehow stop the tractor rally that the farmers are preparing for as part of their kisan parade on Republic Day, the 40 unions spearheading the talks on behalf of the SKM remained non-committal. They said they did not have the authority to take a decision without consulting all the 400-plus unions in the SKM.

“It is a slightly positive development,” Hannan Mollah of the All India Kisan Sabha said, adding that the SKM will meet on Thursday and take a call. The Punjab unions will meet in the morning, following which the larger SKM will meet.

The All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee, which gave the Dilli Chalo call that brought farmers to Delhi’s borders on November 26, is meeting on Wednesday night itself.

Speaking to reporters after the 10th meeting with the farmers, Union agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar said: “During the discussions, we said the government was ready to put on hold the farm laws for one or one and a half years. I am happy that the farmer unions have taken this very seriously and said that they would consider it tomorrow (Thursday) and convey their decision on Friday.”

It will be a “victory for Indian democracy” the day the farmers’ agitation ends, the minister added.

The farmers did concede that it was a positive move on the part of the government which has till now only been offering amendments, repeating the offer to make more and bigger changes in the law at Wednesday’s meeting also.

With the Supreme Court refusing to step in to stop the kisan parade, the government appears to have agreed to climb down further but farmer unions are wary about the sincerity of the offer, even if it is in writing before the court.

“They clearly want to defuse the situation that is building up before January 26, so they made this offer. And, they wanted us to decide in a hurry, even offering us a separate room in Vigyan Bhavan to discuss among ourselves and take a decision today itself, and then call off the kisan parade. We told them that this is not how we function, and that the movement works on the basis of collective decision-making. So, it was agreed that we will return on Friday with our response,” said one union leader.

Refusing to comment on whether anyone in the 40 present at the meeting warmed up to the proposal, Darshan Pal of the Krantikari Kisan Union said it might have some takers if the government agreed to put the farm laws on hold for five years.

Kavita Kuruganti of the Mahila Kisan Adhikaar Manch said the government proposed that the laws could be kept in abeyance for one to one and a half years but added that it could be a “mutually agreed upon time”, indicating that the duration could be longer.

“To show they (the government) are serious and sincere about the suspension idea, they are willing to do this through an undertaking in the Supreme Court. Along with it, they are talking about forming a committee that will then give its recommendations on the future of these laws, whether they should be amended or repealed,” Kavita said, adding that the composition and terms of reference of the committee were not discussed.

Mollah said the talks began with both sides sticking to their guns and it was only towards the end that the government softened its position.

Wednesday’s meeting saw the farmers again raise the issue of notices being sent by the National Investigation Agency to people supporting their movement to scare them away and dissuade others from joining the agitation.

This was raised at the last meeting, too, but still there have been instances of people, including members of the Khalsa Aid, getting notices.

Agriculture minister Tomar told the union leaders that this was being stopped now, Darshan Pal told The Telegraph.