Farmers promise peaceful protest, Centre says must continue discussions

Farmers protest latest news: Centre has estimated that nearly 14,000 people have gathered along the Punjab-Haryana border with 1,200 tractor-trolleys, 300 cars, 10 mini-buses as well as small vehicles

Farmers will resume their "Delhi Chalo" march on Wednesday after their fourth round of talks with the Centre failed earlier this week. The farmers have a long list of demands, including a legal guarantee on minimum support price (MSP) for crops.

They held talks with Union ministers Piyush Goyal, Arjun Munda, and Nityanand Rai on February 8, 12, 15, and 18. The talks have remained inconclusive.

Thousands of farmers, who began their march to Delhi on February 13, were last week stopped at the Haryana border, where they clashed with security personnel. The farmers have been camping at the Shambhu and Khanauri points between Punjab and Haryana since then.

 

The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) and the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha are spearheading the "Delhi Chalo" march.

The last round of talks between the farmers and the government ended past midnight on Sunday when a panel of ministers proposed buying five crops -- moong dal, urad dal, tur dal, maize and cotton -- from farmers at the MSP for five years through central agencies.

The protesting farmer leaders have formally rejected the offer, with Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal saying on Tuesday that it was not in the farmers' interest.

Tight security in and around Delhi

The Centre has estimated that nearly 14,000 people have gathered along the Punjab-Haryana border with 1,200 tractor-trolleys, 300 cars, 10 mini-buses, as well as small vehicles and conveyed its strong objections to the Punjab government for it.

In a communication to the Punjab government, the Union Home Ministry also said that the deteriorating law-and-order situation in the state has been a matter of concern over the last few days and asked it to take stringent action against lawbreakers.

The home ministry said many miscreants in the guise of farmers were indulging in stone-pelting, mobilising heavy machinery along the Shambhu on Punjab's border with Haryana.

READ: Will march towards Delhi peacefully, won't disturb peace, says Dallewal

Haryana Police, on the other hand, has asked its Punjab counterparts to seize bulldozers, which they say protesting farmers from Punjab have brought with them.

Though the farmers are still over 200 km from the national capital, Delhi Police on Tuesday conducted drills to ensure that its heavily barricaded entry points are not breached.

On Wednesday morning, Delhi Police could be seen guarding key areas around central Delhi. Apart from buses and barricaded, they have deployed shipment containers and trucks loaded with heavy materials to stop the farmers.

Mobile internet ban in Haryana extended till Wednesday

The Haryana government has further extended the ban on mobile internet and bulk text-message services in seven districts by a day till Wednesday. These districts are Ambala, Kurukshetra, Kaithal, Jind, Hisar, Fatehabad and Sirsa, the government said in an order.

Centre says must continue discussions

Union Agriculture Minister Arjun Munda on Tuesday appealed to the farmers and the farmers' organisations that are connected with the protest to maintain peace.

"I would appeal to the farmers and the farmers organisations which are connected with this (protest) to maintain peace. We have to take it forward from discussion to solutions. We must keep discussing this issue. We all want peace, and we should together find a solution to this issue," he said.

"We tried to discuss the government's side and several proposals were also discussed. We have come to know that they (farmers) are not satisfied with the proposals but this discussion should continue and we must find a solution peacefully," the Union Minister added.
 

Referring to the farmers' rejection of the government's proposal over MSP, Munda said that they welcome good opinions.

"We want to do good and several opinions can be given for doing so, as we always welcome good opinions. But to find a way on how that opinion will be fruitful, the only way is conversation. Through conversation, a solution will surely come out," he said.

Farmers promise peaceful protest

On Tuesday, farmer leader Abhimanyu Kohar said the farmers are ready to march towards Delhi in a "peaceful" manner from the Shambhu and Khanauri border points.

He said the farmers have been told to head towards the national capital peacefully.

"We will remain peaceful," Kohar said.

Kisan Mazdoor Morcha leader Sarwan Singh Pandher said that the Centre should convene a daylong Parliament session to bring a law on the MSP for crops.

Pandher said the farmers have three big demands -- a legal guarantee on the MSP for all crops, the implementation of the "C2 plus 50 per cent" formula as recommended by the Swaminathan Commission and farm loan waiver.

What do the farmers demand?

Besides a legal guarantee on the MSP, the farmers are demanding the implementation of the Swaminathan Commission's recommendations, pension for farmers and farm labourers, farm loan waiver, no hike in the electricity tariff, withdrawal of police cases and "justice" for the victims of the 2021 Lakhimpur Kheri violence in Uttar Pradesh, reinstatement of the Land Acquisition Act, 2013 and compensation to the families of the farmers who died during a previous agitation in 2020-21.

(With agency inputs)