Govt unwilling to repeal farm laws: Farmers after meet with Amit Shah

New Delhi: The over two-hour-long meeting between protesting farmers and Union Home minister Amit Shah on Tuesday evening failed to resolve the impasse over the farm laws with the government offering to make amendments, which were outrightly refused by the farmer leaders, who remained firm on their demand for a scrapping of the contentious laws.

The Home minister's invite, indicating that the government is engaging with the farmers at the highest level, came earlier on Tuesday as the 'Bharat Bandh' called by protesting farmers affected road and rail traffic in several parts of the country, amid blocked highways and closed markets, affecting supplies.

The scheduled meeting between the government and representatives of protesting farmers on Wednesday has been called off, Haryana BKU president Gurnam Singh Chaduni said on Tuesday after the meeting with Shah. He was quoted as saying in a report: "The government will send its proposal by tomorrow (Wednesday). Then we will discuss if there is a need for another meeting. There has been no progress in the talks today (Tuesday). The government offered amendments but the farmers want the laws should be repealed."

Hannan Mollah, general secretary of the All India Kisan Sabha said: "The government is not ready to repeal the laws. Amit Shah told us that the government will give in writing amendments it is willing to make. We want the repeal of laws, there is no middle path."

He added: "All 13 unions at meeting with Shah demanded the repeal of laws, we'll decide on next round of talks after consulting others. We will not attend Wednesday's consultations with the government."

Meanwhile, farmers' union leaders have clarified that they won't attend any further meetings and will intensify protests. They will meet on Wednesday at 12 pm to decide on the proposal that the Centre is expected to send.

"We can't soften our stand. We have vowed in front of the people of Punjab, that we won't return or lift the protest till laws are repealed. This agitation will go for long," said Krantikari Kishan Union chief Darshan Pal, one of the attendees of the meeting with the Home minister.

Three Union ministers who have been leading the government's consultations with the agitating farmers — Agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar, Food minister Piyush Goyal and Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Som Parkash — also attended the meeting.

The meeting, however, appeared to have created discord among the organisations spearheading the protests on Delhi's borders for the past 12 days with the head of the BKU (Ugrahan), one of the largest outfits taking part, questioning the rationale of the talks a day before the scheduled official consultations.

In a social media post, Joginder Singh Ugrahan, who was not invited to the meeting with Shah, said there was no need for the talks before official consultations and hoped that the leaders attending Tuesday's meet would keep in mind the view of the larger group.

Meanwhile, a PIL seeking to allow farmers, who are protesting at several border points of the national Capital against the new farm laws, to protest at the designated place by following Covid-19 guidelines has been filed in the Supreme Court. The plea filed by Delhi-based lawyer Reepak Kansal has sought to frame guidelines to balance citizens' right to protest with the right to free access and movement.