Centre ready for further talks, Unions threaten to block railway tracks

New Delhi: Virtually ruling out repealing of new farm laws, the government on Thursday asked farmer groups to consider its proposals for amending the Acts to address their concerns and said it is open to discussing its offer further whenever the unions want, but protesters remained defiant and threatened to block railway tracks too in addition to highways.

A day after protesting farmers rejected the government's offer for a written assurance on Minimum Support Price (MSP) and amend few provisions in the new farm laws, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said at a press conference that union leaders must consider the proposals and said he is ready for further discussions with them, but left it to the farmer groups to propose a date for the next round of talks.

At least five rounds of formal talks have taken place between the central government and representatives of thousands of farmers, mainly from Punjab and Haryana, protesting on various borders of the national capital for about two weeks, but the deadlock has continued with the unions sticking to their main demand for the repeal of the three contentious laws and repeatedly rejecting the Centre's offer to make some changes in law and give written assurances or clarifications on few issues such as MSP and mandi systems.

Addressing reporters along with Food, Railways and Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal, Tomar said he is still hopeful of a resolution.

"The government is keen and ready for further discussions with protesting farmers...To clear their apprehensions, we have sent our proposal to farmer unions. I want to urge them to fix a date for discussion as early as possible. If they have any issue, the government is ready for discussion," the agriculture minister said.

Tomar said it was not proper on the part of unions to announce the next stage of agitation when talks were continuing and urged them to return to the discussion table.

"We gave our proposals to farmers after meeting them and therefore we urge them to consider those. If they want to discuss those proposals also, we are ready for that too," he said.

When asked whether the government would consider a new Bill on the MSP system, Tomar said the new laws do not impact the MSP system and that will continue.

At the same media briefing, Goyal said, "We appeal our farmer brothers and sisters and the union leaders to end their protest and engage in dialogue with the government to resolve their issues."

He said the government is very open and flexible to find an amicable solution for the benefit of India's farmers.

"The government is ready to consider with an open mind any provision in the new laws where farmers have any issues and we want to clarify all their apprehensions," Tomar said.

"We kept waiting for suggestions from farmers' leaders to address their concerns, but they are stuck on the repeal of laws," he said, while virtually ruling out conceding to the key demand with which thousands of farmers are protesting.

Meanwhile, addressing a press conference on Thursday, farmer leader from Bhartiya Kisan Union Balbir Singh Rajewal said, "We will block railway tracks if our demands are not met. We will decide on the date and announce it soon. Centre has admitted that laws have been made for traders. If agriculture is a state subject, the Central government does not have the right to make laws on it."

Another farmer leader Boota Singh said that they will give an ultimatum till December 10, after which the leading Sanyukt Kisan Manch will fix a date.

As reports of portraits of academicians and activists in jail were raised at Tikri Border, farmer leader Darshan Pal said that it was a "matter of human rights and should be raised by intellectuals."

A source close to the farmer leadership told Millennium Post that a narrative to show the leaders divided was set up, all of which was discussed in the meeting on Wednesday. "We discussed all sorts of miscommunication that has happened at the meeting, after which the decisions were taken."

Speaking to Millennium Post, farmer leader Shiv Kumar Kakka from Madhya Pradesh said that they are going to intensify the protests and plan to shut all borders. "The government has not put anything new in the proposal, which is why we decided to take such steps. We do not know what the conclusion is going to be, we just want to attract the government's attention to our problems," he added.