Punjab Farmers Boycott Meeting on Farm Laws No Minister Present

New Delhi/Chandigarh: Farmers' organisations from Punjab on Wednesday boycotted a meeting called by the Union agriculture ministry to resolve their concerns over new the farm laws. They accused the government of double standards with no minister present to hear them out.

Representatives of 29 farmers' organisations, including the Joginder Singh-led Bharti Kisan Union, were miffed at the absence of Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar and the Minister of State for Agriculture in the meeting.

The meeting was convened at the Krishi Bhavan amid police security to avoid any protest. After the meeting, agitated farmers' representatives were seen shouting slogans and tearing copies of the new Farm Laws outside Krishi Bhavan.

“No proper discussion took place. Neither the Union agriculture minister nor junior ministers were present to hear our concerns. We asked why the minister is not meeting us, why the government is playing double standards by calling us here and ministers holding virtual meetings in Punjab. There was no proper response,” Darshan Pal, member of the coordination committee of 29 farmers' organisations, told PTI after the meeting.

Since there was no response from Agriculture Secretary Sanjay Agrawal, who was chairing the meeting, farmers' organisations decided to boycott the meeting, he said.

“BJP leaders are holding virtual meetings in Punjab and talking against us. We are called to Delhi and no minister wants to listen to us,” Pal, who also heads the Krantikari Kisan Union Punjab, added.

Harjinder Singh from Ajad Kisan Sangathan said: “The agriculture secretary had invited us to take our feedback on the new farm laws. We thought the agriculture minister would be there, but only the secretary was present.”

The secretary tried to explain that the new laws were good and will yield good results in future, he said. “We knew the secretary had no authority and there is no point discussing it with him. We decided to boycott,” he added.

Bharti Kisan Union state president Joginder Singh, in a representation made to the government, has demanded the repeal of the recent farm laws, to legally ensure minimum support price (MSP) for crops and the implementation of the Swaminathan Commission recommendations among others.

Farmers in Punjab and Haryana and other states are protesting against new farm laws which they feel will lead to procurement in the hands of corporates and the end of MSP.

“In the meeting, only the agriculture secretary was present for holding talks with us even though farmers were assured that the Central government would talk to them,” Bharatiya Kisan Union (Dakaunda) president Buta Singh Burjgill told PTI over the phone.

 “When we asked the secretary to whom he wanted us to talk to, he had no answer,” said Burgill. “We said we wanted to hold talks with those who framed laws. We are here for table talks with Cabinet-rank ministers but they do not have time for us,” said BKU (Kadiyan) president Harmeet Singh.

Burjgill said he told the agriculture secretary that “on one side, you have called us for the meeting here and on the other, several union ministers have been holding rallies and doing propaganda in Punjab. These are double standards.”

“Thereafter, we boycotted the meeting,” said Burgill.

Eight union ministers, including Hardeep Singh Puri, have been deputed to hold virtual rallies over eight days from October 13 to “address apprehensions” of the farmers in Punjab.

Union minister of state for Agriculture, Kailash Choudhary, held a virtual meeting on Wednesday with farmers of Sangrur and Barnala districts. Farmers, however, submitted their charter of demands, including scrapping the new farm laws.

Farmers said they would announce their next course of action on October 15 in a meeting in Chandigarh. Farmers in Punjab have been demanding the repeal of the three laws passed by Parliament recently.

Aside from blocking rail tracks, farmers have laid siege to toll plazas, fuel pumps, shopping malls of some corporates and staged sit-ins outside the residences of several BJP leaders.

Farmers have expressed apprehension that the new laws will pave a way for the dismantling of the minimum support price system, leaving them at the “mercy” of big corporates.

The government, however, has been saying that the laws passed by Parliament recently, amid a vociferous protest, will raise farmers' income, free them from the clutches of the middlemen and usher in new technology in farming.
 
The central ministers are also reaching out to farmers, scientists and agricultural professionals in Congress-ruled Punjab to clear misgivings about new farm laws.