The government proposed another meeting on December 9 with representatives of protesting farmers as the fifth round of talks held on Saturday ended in a deadlock with participating farmers opting to observe “maun vrat (vow of silence)” while seeking a clear “yes or no” answer to their demand of repealing the three farm laws.
Sources said the team of ministers who were holding the talks sought some time from the farmers’ unions to present a concrete proposal after further consultations within the government. Hence, the December 9 date for the next round of negotiations.
The agriculture ministry later tweeted that the fifth round of talks had ended.
Union leaders said they do not want anything less than the complete repeal of the laws, which they claim were meant to end the mandi and minimum support price procurement systems for the benefits of corporates.
During the meeting, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar also appealed to the union leaders to send back the elderly, women and children to their homes from protest sites. Thousands of farmers have been protesting on the borders of the national capital since November 26, seeking a repeal of the three farm laws enacted in September.
As their meeting with three Union ministers, including Tomar, Piyush Goyal and Som Parkash, continued for more than four hours, farmer leaders told the government to reply in “black and white” whether it would repeal the laws or not.
Gurlabh Singh Mahal, legal advisor to Punjab Kisan Union, said the farmer leaders wanted the government to answer in “yes or no” and decided to go on a “maun vrat” after the government did not reply to their pinpointed demand.
Some farmer leaders present at the meeting put a finger on their lips and held a paper with the words “Yes or No” written on it.
During a break earlier in the day, the farmers' group decided to have their own food and tea, as they did on Thursday during the fourth round of talks.
At the beginning of the fifth round of talks here at Vigyan Bhawan _ it began at 2.30pm _ Union agriculture minister Tomar told a group of 40 representatives of various farmer unions that the government was committed to cordial talks and welcomed all positive feedback on the new farm laws, sources said.
Later, minister of state for commerce Som Parkash, an MP from Punjab, addressed the leaders in Punjabi and said the government understood their sentiments. "We are ready to address all your concerns with an open mind," a source quoted Parkash as telling the union leaders.
But a member of the All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee (AIKSCC) said farmers would walk out of the meeting if the three farm laws were not withdrawn. Farmer leader Jagmohan Singh Patiala, speaking from Singhu border, said farmers from across the country had decided to attend the meeting as one. “It will be one stage, one morcha and one voice,” he said.
In his opening remarks, Tomar, who is leading the talks for the Centre, said the government had no intention of hurting farmers' sentiments. The agriculture minister welcomed feedback on the three farm laws, while agriculture secretary Sanjay Agarwal summarised the proceedings of the previous four rounds of talks with farmer unions during the meeting, sources said.
The two sides are believed to have discussed contentious issues like provision of dispute resolution and registration of traders in proposed private mandis under the new laws.
Ahead of the meeting, Tomar and Goyal, along with senior Union ministers Rajnath Singh and Amit Shah, had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi to deliberate over proposals likely to be made to the agitating groups.
Modi’s decision to hold deliberations with Union ministers, who have so far been the face of the Centre's efforts to end the farmers' agitation, signifies the importance the Prime Minister has attached to defuse the crisis, sources said.
On Thursday, talks between the Union ministers and a representative group of thousands of agitating farmers had failed to yield any resolution, as the union leaders stuck to their demand for the repeal of new farm laws despite the government offering to "discuss and consider with an open mind" some key points of concern raised by farmers in the three new laws.
Farmers on Friday announced a 'Bharat Bandh' on December 8 and threatened to intensify their agitation and block more roads leading to the national capital if the government does not accept their demands.
Enacted in September, the three farm laws have been presented by the government as major reforms in the agriculture sector that will remove the middlemen and allow farmers to sell anywhere in the country.
However, the protesting farmers have expressed apprehension that the new laws would pave the way for eliminating the safety cushion of a minimum support price (MSP) and scrap the mandis, leaving them at the mercy of big corporates. The Centre has maintained the MSP and mandi systems would continue and would be rather further improved and strengthened.
Undeterred by the winter chill, thousands of farmers have stayed put at various border points of Delhi for the past nine days as part of their protest against the Centre's farm laws.
Before the start of the meeting, an All India Kisan Sabha functionary said only repealing of the new farm laws will end the stalemate. “At this juncture, we have transport unions, retail businesses and other associated groups who have shown solidarity with us. Our movement is not just about farmers,” AIKS finance secretary Krishna Prasad said.
Outside the meeting venue, employees of the Indian Tourist Transporters Association (ITTA), which has supplied vehicles for the transit movement of the protesting farmers, had gathered with a banner which read, “We support farmers”, and shouted slogans backing the peasants' agitation.
”I belong to a farmer's family. I can relate to their fears. We had farmland at Mahipalpur and now you see T-3 terminal out there. We are supporting the protesting farmers in their cause,” IITA president Satish Sehrawat told PTI.
He said the association is providing transportation facility to the farmers since their first meeting.
Bharatiya Kisan Union (Rajewal) state general secretary Onkar Singh Agaul said: “Our demand remains the same that the government should withdraw all three farm laws. We want MSP to be guaranteed through law”.
He also sought scrapping of the electricity amendment law and an ordinance on stubble burning.