LIVE: Host farmers at your house like you treated Obama, Owaisi tells PM

Farmers' protest LIVE updates: 'Will return home only after the government repeals the contentious legislations', said Rakesh Tikait

9:45 AM

Opposition parties misleading farmers to regain lost political ground: Sidharth Nath Singh

Opposition parties are misleading farmers and are using them in their efforts "to regain lost political ground", Uttar Pradesh Minister Sidharth Nath Singh said on Saturday, according to PTI.

 

"The farmers' interests were given priority for the first time when the Modi Government took over in 2014. It has implemented the recommendation of Swaminathan Commission," he said.

 

Singh, who is Minister for MSME, Investment, Export, Textile, Khadi and Gram Udyog, said the farmers were getting the price of crops at one-and-a-half times the input costs.

 

"The procurement of seeds and fertilisers has also been made much easier for them unlike in the past when they had to wait in long queues," the minister said.

 

He said both PM Modi and UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath are committed to doubling the income of farmers and the efforts were being made to achieve this goal.

9:10 AM

Govt shouldn't have asked big personalities to tweet in support of farmers' protests: Raj Thackeray

8:21 AM

Rahul Gandhi to visit Rajasthan to meet protesting farmers:

Former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi will be on a two-day visit to Rajasthan next week to raise his voice for farmers protesting the new agriculture laws, party general secretary Ajay Maken said on Saturday.

 

"To fight for farmers' interests, to raise the voice of farmers in the struggle for the repeal of the three back laws, Rahul Gandhi ji will be in Rajasthan on February 12-13," the AICC in-charge of Rajasthan said in a tweet in Hindi.

 

A 'Kisan Mahapanchayat' was held in Rajasthan's Dausa on Friday in solidarity with the farmers camping on the borders of Delhi. The resolution passed at the meet reiterated the farmers' demand for the repeal of the three new farm laws. READ MORE...

 

8:05 AM

Repeal farm laws without further delay: Shiromani Akali Dal chief tells Centre

Slamming the the new farm laws, Shiromani Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Singh Badal on Saturday asked the Centre to accept the farmers' demand of repealing the legislations without further delay. Badal also asked Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar to name one political party which is representative of farmers and has welcomed the three laws, instead of trying to mislead people in Parliament by giving the impression that the laws were acceptable to all.

 

Tomar on Friday had asserted that the government's offer to amend the new farm laws to assuage farmers' sentiments did not mean they had any flaws.

 

The central government should not stand on prestige. Instead it should listen to the voice of farmers and repeal the laws without any further delay, said Badal in Amritsar. Badal also hit out at Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, accusing him of acting like a proxy of the BJP by running away from his duty to locate Punjabi youth, who had been missing since the January 26.

7:46 AM

'Exercise caution' when commenting on farmers' protest: Sharad Pawar to Sachin Tendulkar

Days after Sachin Tendulkar made comments in the wake remarks of some celebrities on the protest by farmers, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar on Saturday asked the former Indian skipper Sachin Tendulkar to "exercise caution while speaking about other fields".

 

"Many people (celebrities) have reacted sharply to the stand taken by them (farmers). My suggestion to Sachin Tendulkar is he should be cautious while commenting on fields other than his domain," Pawar told reporters.

 

Tendulkar had said after comments by a few international celebrities on farmers' protests that India's sovereignty cannot be compromised and external forces can be spectators but not participants. READ MORE...

7:41 AM

Rajasthan Congress leader says farmers will become bonded labourers of corporates with new farm laws

Former Rajasthan tourism minister Vishvendra Singh on Saturday said the Centre's three farm laws have been brought for the benefits of big corporate houses. He said farmers will become bonded labourers of the corporate houses by mortgaging their lands, according to a PTI report.

 

"We strongly oppose the anti-farmer laws passed by the Central Government. The farmers had never demanded to bring these farmer laws. They had demanded the implementation of the Swaminathan Commission Report'. The laws will only benefit the safes of the corporate houses. Farmers will have to work like bonded labourers by mortgaging their land," Singh said while addressing a Kisan Mahapanchayat in Deeg of Bharatput district.

 

A large number of farmers from different districts of Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana gathered in the mahapanchayat.

7:40 AM

60 detained in Delhi for staging protest in support of farmers

Around 60 people were detained near Shaheedi Park in central Delhi on Saturday for allegedly holding a protest in support of the 'chakka jam' call given by the farmers agitating against the Centre's new agri laws, police said. The protesters were from different organisations, they said. They were detained around 12.30 pm and later released in the evening, police said.

 

Police said some trade union leaders were also detained on Saturday at some places as a preventive measure.

 

Farmers in Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan blocked highways with tractor-trolleys and squatted on key roads on Saturday, while scattered protests were held in other states during a three-hour 'chakka jam' called by agitating farmer unions which are demanding scrapping of the Centre's new agri laws.

7:39 AM

Rakesh Tikait calls on farmers for 'tractor revolution'

Farmer leader Rakesh Tikait on Saturday called on peasants across the country to join the tractor revolution as part of the ongoing protests at Delhi's borders against the new agri laws introduced by the Centre. During a speech to supporters at the Ghazipur protest site, Tikait reached out to the farming community, many of whom especially in the Delhi-NCR region have been upset over the National Green Tribunal's ban on diesel vehicles, including tractors, that are over 10 years old.

 

The tractors which run in the farms will now run at the NGT's office in Delhi also. Until recently, they had not asked which vehicles are 10 years old. What is their plan? Phase out tractors older than 10 years and help the corporates? But the tractors older than 10 years will also run and the movement (for repeal of the new farm laws) will also be strengthened, Tikait, 51, told the crowd amid cheers.

 

He said more and more farmers across the country will participate in the ongoing farmers' stir for rollback of the contentious laws. Recently, 20,000 tractors were in Delhi and the next target is taking that number to 40 lakh, Tikait said.

7:36 AM

Ready for talks, govt should come with new proposal, farmers say but remain firm on demand

Protesting farmer unions Saturday said they are ready to resume talks with the government, but asked it to come up with a fresh proposal as the existing offer to put the three farm laws on hold for 12-18 months is not acceptable to them.

 

The unions, however, made it clear that they would not settle for anything less than the repeal of the three contentious laws. Addressing a press conference at the Singhu border here, Samyukta Kisan Morcha's senior leader Darshan Pal said the ball is now in the government's court now.

 

"We are ready to talk. The ball is in the government's court. We clearly told them that their last proposal (of suspending the farm laws for 12-18 months) was not acceptable to us. Now, they should come up with a new proposal," he told reporters.

7:35 AM

Farmers block key highways in Punjab, Haryana, Raj during 'chakka jam'; demonstrations in other states

Farmers in Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan blocked highways and key roads with tractor-trolleys and sit-in demonstrations on Saturday, while scattered protests were held in other states during a three-hour 'chakka jam' called by agitating farmer unions which are demanding the scrapping of the Centre's new agri laws, PTI reported.

 

Scores of people were detained in several states, including nearly 60 at Shaheedi Park in the national capital which was brought under a thick security blanket, during the demonstrations held between 12 noon and 3 PM to oppose the internet ban and other restrictions at the protest sites on Delhi's borders.

 

Samyukta Kisan Morcha, which is spearheading the agitation' claimed the 'chakka jam' (road blockade) protest got huge nationwide support which once again "proved" that farmers across the country are united against the farm laws and demanded that the government come up with a fresh proposal for talks.

 

Farmer leader Rakesh Tikait declared that farmers will return home only after the government repeals the contentious legislations and makes a law ensuring a legal guarantee for the minimum support price (MSP).