New Delhi: In backdrop of the protests by farmers from different states of India, several ministers including Home Minister of India Amit Shah and Agriculture Minister, appear to have called up farmer leaders to convince them to proceed to the Nirankari Ground in Burari.
However, the farmers have rejected the offer to talk with Amit Shah and other ministers terming the offer “conditional” one.
Quoting several farmer organisations, a report by The Tribune, said that this has been claimed by several organisations camping on the Delhi borders.
However, so far, they have not been able to convince farmers who believe that moving to Burari would adversely affect their current advantageous position on the highways and weaken the agitation against the three “black farm laws”.
besides this, farmers also demand permission for either Jantar Mantar or Ramlila Ground to register their protest.
The report quoting farmers said that they will seal the borders and hold a meeting every day to decide the next course of action and added that they were ready to stay put at the borders for “as long as it takes”.
Quoting BKU Ekta Ugrahan president Joginder Singh Ugrahan, the report said that Amit Shah called him and asked him to stage the protest at Burari Maidan but he refused his proposal asking him to give farmers the permission to stage a protest at Jantar Mantar.
Reiterating that they would not go to Burari Maidan, Joginder said: “Five hundred farmer organisations had called for a demonstration at Jantar Mantar and they will reach there at any cost. If they were stopped, they would block the roads of Delhi by staging a dharna.”
Giving an ultimatum to the GoI, he said if it did not approve the earlier application of the farmer organisations till Sunday, they would take the next decision on the spot and reach Jantar Mantar in any case.
“They should come to us and take back the ‘three black Acts’,” the report quoted farmers as saying.
However, Shah in a video message said: “The government is ready to deliberate on every problem and demand of the farmers.”
The country’s Homes Minister said that GoI will hold talks with the agitating farmers’ unions on December 3 and if they want to hold discussions before that, they will have to shift their protests at a government-designated venue.
“If farmers’ unions want to hold discussions before December 3 then, I want to assure you all, that as soon as you shift your protest to the structured place, the government will hold talks to address your concerns the very next day,” he was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
Thousands of farmers marching from Punjab under the “Delhi Chalo” campaign braved water cannons and tear gas shells to reach Delhi on Friday. As the protests continued, the GoI, which looks after the law and order in New Delhi, relented and fixed a place for their agitation.
The protestors, however, refused to go to the outer Delhi venue and are camping at several places on the outskirts of the Delhi.
Appealing for talks, Agriculture Minister of India Narendra Singh Tomar has also asked the farmers to stop the agitation and come for scheduled talks on December 3.
Tomar asked the political parties to stop playing politics on the issue of agriculture laws.
Meanwhile, the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (DSGMC) said they would standby and provide langar to agitating farmers till the time they continue their agitation.
“This is an agitation of farmers, not any political party,” the report quoted Manjinder Singh Sirsa of the DSGMC as having said.
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