On Sunday, as the talks between the Centre and agitating farmer unions failed to end the standoff over the new farm laws, the two sides will now meet again on December 3 Thursday. The farmer unions rejected the government's offer to set up a committee to look into issues raised by them and said they will intensify their stir until their demands are met.
35 farmer leaders held a three-hour meeting at Vigyan Bhavan with the ministerial delegation that included Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal and Minister of State for Commerce Som Parkash.
During the interaction, the government suggested to the farmer representatives "to identify the specific issues related to Farm Reform Acts and share with the government on December 2 for consideration. These issues will be discussed during the fourth round of meeting to be held on December 3."
In a statement on the meeting, the agriculture ministry said Tomar has "proposed to constitute an expert committee to put forth the issues of farmers so as to resolve them with mutual consent but the representative of the farmers' suggested that all the representatives will attend a further round of discussions with the government to resolve the matter amicably".
What next?
The farmers are in no mood to relent even one bit. "We do not accept the government's proposal to set up a special committee. We demand that the government cancel the laws related to agrarian reform. We are not going to back down even if the government uses force. Our protest will continue," Roop Singh, a leader of farmers' organisation Bhartiya Kisan Union, told NDTV.
They said protests will now intensify across the country until their demands are met.
Security upped in NCR
The national capital's border points were under heavy police deployment on Tuesday with concrete barriers and multilayered barricades put in place as farmers blocked the Delhi-Noida border.
Two more border points connecting the national capital with Gurgaon and Jhajjar-Bahadurgarh were closed as precautionary measures, leading to heavy traffic jams in several parts of the city.
With this, in total five border points, including Singhu and Tikri, have been closed due to the protest.
The protest by farmers at the Delhi border points entered the sixth day and is set to continue.
Murmurs within the NDA
While the opposition has been vociferously supporting the protests, BJP's ruling coalition partner in Haryana, the Jannayak Janata Party, suggested that the Centre give a written assurance to farmers that the minimum support price system will continue, a main concern of the farmers.
The BJP's former ally Shiromani Akali Dal blamed the Centre for the "failure" of talks, saying that the government was deliberately prolonging and deepening the farmers crisis with an objective of tiring them out and prolonging their agony.
Independent MLA from the state Sombir Sangwan withdrew support to the BJP-led government in the state, while backing the farmers' demand.
The agitation received support from several other quarters as well. Dalit leader and Bhim Army chief Chandrashekar Azad joined the protesting farmers at the Delhi-Ghazipur border.
In Chandigarh, former sportspersons including Padma Shri and Arjuna awardees like wrestler Kartar Singh said they will return their awards in protest over the "use of force" against the peasants en route to Delhi.
-Inputs from agencies
