The protesting farmers stood firm on Monday despite a multi-pronged effort by the Centre to dissuade them, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi again talking up the new farm laws and his government trying to play on Sikh sentiments on Guru Nanak’s birthday.

Late on Monday night, the agriculture ministry said in a statement that in view of Covid and the winter, it had advanced to Tuesday the talks planned for December 3. Those farmer leaders who had attended the previous round were invited to join the talks at 3pm at Vigyan Bhavan, it said.

Earlier in the day, the farmers practically told the Prime Minister off, saying they had been hearing his Mann ki Baat (monthly radio address) for over six years and it was time he heard their “mann ki baat” (words from the heart), else his party and government would pay a heavy price.

In his Mann ki Baat broadcast on Sunday, Modi had lauded the new farm laws as pro-farmer while mentioning not a word about the agitation against them.

Jagmohan Singh of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (Dakaunda), among the most respected farmer leaders in Punjab, described the Modi government as authoritarian and fascist.

“Yeh aar paar ki ladai hai (This a fight to the finish),” he said while briefing the media at the Singhu border between Delhi and Haryana on the GT Karnal Road.

Singh said what had upset the farmers most was the government’s refusal to even talk about the issue they see as non-negotiable — the repeal of the three new farm laws.

He said this was not a protest by farmers from one state — Punjab — or one religion — Sikhism — as was being portrayed by the government and its supporters.

“There is no question of withdrawing; we will stay put,” Singh said.

Modi on Monday suggested that the farmers were suspicious of his government’s farm policies because they had been cheated by past governments.

The I&B ministry released a booklet on Guru Nanak’s Birthday to highlight “PM Modi and his government’s special relationship with Sikhs” — seen as an effort to cajole a minority community that the government believes is leading the protest.

The Right-wing ecosystem too has been trying to project the agitation as Punjab-specific although farmers across the country have been protesting.

While farmers from Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh staged the initial march to Delhi, their peers from other states too have begun moving towards the capital heeding a call from the All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee on Sunday.

To drive home this point, BKU (Haryana) president Gurnam Singh Chaduni told reporters that the Haryana Mandi Association had called a strike in the state’s agriculture markets on Tuesday.

Swaraj Abhiyan’s Yogendra Yadav, who is from Haryana, said village panchayats across the state had decided to send a member from every family to participate in the agitation.

On Sunday, the leaders of 30 Khap panchayats (caste councils) in Haryana held a meeting in Rohtak and decided to join the protest.

Sombir Sangwan, the Independent MLA from Dadri who also heads the Sangwan Khap, told PTI that “all khaps which took part in the meeting unanimously decided to extend support to the thousands of farmers sitting in protest on Delhi’s borders”.

The Indian diaspora, particularly in America, Canada and Britain, have chipped in with digital mobilisation. According to the petition website Change.org, more than 2 lakh people have signed petitions demanding justice for the farmers on its platform over the past two days.

Taxi and auto-rickshaw unions in the National Capital Region have expressed solidarity with the farmers, urging them to continue their agitation till the government convened a special session of Parliament to repeal the new farm laws.

Several popular Punjabi singers, including Sidhu Moosewala and Babbu Maan, have joined the farmers at the protests.

Parallel efforts are on, however, to discredit the movement by alleging Khalistani links, engaging in dog whistling (“the farmers are being fed biryani”) and focusing on the traffic jams rather than the issues that prompted the agitation.

Some media outlets, too, have drawn flak for dwelling on these efforts, with “godi (lapdog) media” placards coming up at some places.

Punjab’s feisty farmers have refused to let the Right-wing campaign dampen their spirits. Monday evening saw them celebrate Gur Purab by lighting candles at the Tikri border. They offered prayers on the road and cooked and distributed prasad.

Gurpal Singh, 25, who has come from Patiala with his 85-year-old grandfather, Ajaib Singh, said: “In the morning, prayers were held. We lit candles in the evening and greeted each other.”

Jaspreet Singh, a student of Panjab University in Patiala, said this was the first time he is away from home on the festival. “We pray for the well being of everyone. People who have come here from Punjab will light diyas on their tractors and road. We are obviously missing our family….”