“The difficulty is the farmers’ ‘yes or no’ approach. Different ministers talked to them, but they turned their chairs back and did not talk,” the centre said.
The apex court today said the farmers’ protest will soon become a “national issue”, suggesting that a solution be found urgently through negotiations. The court said the Centre’s negotiations “do not work and is bound to fail again’, suggesting a panel be formed with representatives from all stakeholders — the farmers’ associations as well as government nominees. The top court has also issued notice to the Centre as well as the Delhi, Punjab and Haryana governments seeking their response by tomorrow before winter vacation begins.
During the hearing of a batch of petitions on the protest, the Centre told the top court: “The government was and is ready for negotiations. The difficulty is the farmers’ ‘yes or no’ approach. Different ministers talked to them, but they turned their chairs back and did not talk,” the centre said.
“It appears now some other interests have taken over the farmers protests,” the government said without naming the opposition, which it has repeatedly held responsible for inciting farmers.
The government assured that it would not “do anything against the farmers”. Responding to that, Chief Justice SA Bobde, who was leading the bench hearing the cases, said, “What’s the point of saying so when it is adversely affecting them?”
“Your negotiation will again fail as they won’t agree. Give us the names of organizations that can be before us… This will soon become a national issue and will have to solve through negotiations,” Justice Bobde added.
“Why farmers associations were not made party to the case and without hearing them, how orders can be passed?” CJI Bobde asked. He also told Solicitor General to provide the names of the associations to the petitioners.
A number of petitions were filed before the Supreme Court related to the Farmers’ agitation, both for and against the protest.
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