Farmer leaders communicated that they will hold 'Bharat Bandh' on December 8 as their demands haven't been met.
As their fifth round of talks with the government ended in a deadlock, thousands of farmers protesting the Centre's new farm laws stayed put on the borders of Delhi with Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, blocking key routes leading to the national capital that led to long traffic jams.
Farmer leaders communicated that they will hold 'Bharat Bandh' on December 8 as their demands haven't been met.
As farmers remained unyielding on their demand for scrapping the new farm laws, the police kept the Delhi-Haryana border at Singhu, Tikri, Jharoda Lampur, Auchandi, Safiabad, Piao Maniyari, and Saboli closed for traffic movement.
After the 5th round of the Centre-farmers talks on Saturday, Agriculture Minister Narendra Tomar said that APMCs will not be weakened and MSP will continue as he urged farmer unions to give up their agitation and solve their grievances through talks.
During the dialogue, there was an exchange of opinions on both sides. The Agriculture Minister said Modi Government is committed to the welfare of farmers and has taken a number of steps and pro farmers reforms.
"MSPs have been hiked multiple times and will continue in the future," he said.
The minister appealed to the farmers' unions that they should give up their agitation and solve their grievances through talks and dialogue.
He appealed that children and elders should be allowed to go home in view of the cold and COVID-19. "We request Kisan unions to send elderly and children back home in wake of COVID and cold weather. I want to request protesting farmers to give up their movement so that they don't face inconvenience in this cold weather and citizens of Delhi can also live a life of convenience," he said.
He referred to steps taken by the government for farmers including an increase in budgetary allocation for agriculture, PM-Kisan Samman Nidhi and Rs one lakh crore agri-infrastructure fund.
Earlier in the day, heated arguments and written placards in "Yes or No" were raised in the five-hour meeting that began at 2 pm at Vigyan Bhawan in Central Delhi.
After multiple obstacles, the talks finally ended with no conclusion as the farmers stuck to their first and major demand to repeal the three farms laws enacted in September during the Monsoon Session of Parliament.
Farmer leaders said they conveyed their concerns to the government. Bharatiya Kisan Union Rakesh Tikait, after the meeting, said that the government will prepare a draft and give them. He said that there will be Bharat Bandh on December 8 as announced earlier.
Hannan Mollah, General Secretary, All India Kisan Sabha, said they told the government at the beginning of the meeting that their demand is the withdrawal of laws and they do not want amendments. "We took a firm stand. Finally, we were told that the next meeting will be held on Dec 9. It seems the government will definitely roll back the laws," he said.
The farmers are protesting against the Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020, and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.
(With agency inputs)
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