Deadlock continues; Farmers reject Amit Shah’s proposal of ‘conditional’ talks

Nov. 29: In a latest development, the farmers agitating against the Centre’s new agri laws on Sunday refused to accept any conditions, including moving to the city’s Burari ground from the Singhu and Tikri border points. They have decided to gherao Delhi by blocking five main entry points.

With thousands of farmers continuing their protest against the Centre’s new agriculture laws, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday said they were for the welfare of farmers and called their agitation apolitical. Meanwhile the farmers have yet again rejected conditional talks and have said that they will block all the entry points to the national capital.

Meanwhile, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Agriculture Minister Narendra Tomar and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh are attending a crucial meet at BJP chief JP Nadda’s residence over the ongoing farmers’ protests. The meeting comes after farmers refused to relent and demanded unconditional talks with Centre.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in his Mann ki Baat, “The agricultural reforms in the past few days have opened new doors of possibilities for our farmers.”  “The demands that have been made by farmers for years, that every political party, at some point or the other, made the promise to fulfill, those demands have been met,” he added.

Infact, the farmers have been up against the farm laws, which have allowed them to bypass middlemen and sell directly to any market anywhere in the country. The farmers say the new laws will lead to phasing out of the existing system where they are assured of fixed prices from the government. The new system, they say, will also leave them at the mercy of the big corporates.