New Delhi : The farmers umbrella body, Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), will be holding a meeting today to discuss the future course of the agitation. The meeting comes amid the Centre’s announcement to repeal the three farm laws in Parliament during the ongoing Winter Session.
Farmers have said that repealing the farm laws is one among their several demands, including the minimum support price (MSP).
Leader of Samyukt Kisan Morcha, Rakesh Tikait, while speaking with media said that the meeting would discuss the demonstration of the further move. “Our demand for MSP is from the Government of India. The talks have just started, we will see how it goes. We won’t develop any strategies today, we will only discuss how the agitation moves forward,” news agency ANI quoted Tikait as saying.
Tikait’s comments came after he met Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar and farmer leaders from the state on Friday. “Talks between Haryana CM and farmers yesterday remained inconclusive, although they have agreed to take back the cases registered against farmers. Like Punjab, we need state-wise compensation for deaths of farmers and employment,” Tikait said about this meeting.
The farmers had held a meeting with the Haryana CM and listed their demands, that included the withdrawal of cases against the farmers who took part in the protests, compensation and a government job to the families of those that lost their lives during the protests and space for setting up a memorial at Kundli border. However, the farmer leaders after the meeting said that it remained inconclusive with no guarantee or agreement of any kind reached with the CM regarding the demands.
Following the meeting, Gurnam Singh Chaduni, leader of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (Chaduni), said that the farmers would decide the next course of action during the SKM’s meeting on the day. “The net result after our talks is that there was no agreement reached on our demands,” news agency PTI quoted him as saying.
“We did not get a satisfactory reply from the government. Talks broke down and the rest we will decide in tomorrow’s SKM meeting,” he added.
On November 28, the SKM called off a planned tractor march to Parliament on November 29 and said that it would wait until December 4 for the Union government to formally respond to its demands, which it had stated in an open letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Union agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar had urged the protesting farmers to return to their homes after the repeal of the farm laws. During the Winter Session, Tomar also informed the Lok Sabha that the Centre had no record of the number of farmers who died during the protests and the question of giving financial aid or compensation to their families “does not arise.”
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