New Delhi: Before the farmers march to Delhi, General Secretary of Punjab Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Samiti Sarwan Singh Pandher has said that they tried to find a solution through talks with the government but it did not happen.
He said, “We want to put this before the whole country that we tried our best so that a decision can be taken in tomorrow’s meeting, so that we can avoid conflict with the government and we got something which we expected. Only by trusting. We sat in the meeting for five hours.”
“We presented the position of Haryana before them. You have turned Haryana into the valley of Kashmir. You are sending police to every village in Haryana, you have sent water cannons, Patwaris are going to every village. The relatives of the farmers of Haryana “They are being harassed. It is being said that passports will be canceled. This kind of harassment is increasing more and more. It seems that Punjab and Haryana have become not two states of India but an international border.”
#WATCH: Fatehgarh Sahib: Punjab Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee General Secretary Sarwan Singh Pandher says "We tried to find a solution so that we do not have to stand against the Govt. We were expecting that we would be given something. In the 5-hour-long meeting yesterday,… pic.twitter.com/ssD512gdrc
— ANI (@ANI) February 13, 2024
Earlier yesterday, the talks held in Chandigarh between the ministers of the Government of India and the farmer leaders failed, due to which the farmers are moving from Punjab towards Delhi today.
What are the demands of farmers:
The central government should guarantee the minimum support price.
Cases against farmers should be withdrawn.
The culprits in the Lakhimpur Kheri case should be punished.
Farmers should be kept out of pollution laws.
Government should waive off the entire loan of farmers.
Farmers and agricultural laborers should be given pension.
Electricity Amendment Bill 2020 should be repealed.
What did the central government ministers say after their talks with farmers representatives?
On behalf of the government, Agriculture Minister Arjun Munda, Food and Consumer Affairs Minister Piyush Goyal and Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai were involved in the talks.
Arjun Munda said, “All such topics were discussed where we reached consensus, but there were some topics on which we said that there are many such issues on which there is a need to form a committee to find a temporary solution and Let us share our views with him and find a permanent solution. We believe that any problem can be solved through dialogue, we are hopeful that we will be successful in finding a solution to it together. We will try to protect the interests of the farmers and people of the country, we are still hopeful that the farmer organizations will hold talks. There are some aspects on which we will try to find solutions in the coming days, we still want to talk.”
What did the farmers say about the conversation with the ministers?
Sanyukta Kisan Morcha leader Dhaliwal said, “When it comes to job vacancies, the government is not serious, whereas the government has waived off Rs 14.5 lakh crore of corporates. Swaminathan’s report which has been made after much discussion, which has to be implemented.
Farmer leader SS Pandher, who was involved in the conversation, said, “Yes, we will go to Delhi at 10 o’clock. The government does not have any proposal, it just wants to buy time, we have tried our best to get a decision in our favor but we did not find anything like this in the meeting.”
The Times of India report states that in 2020, 32 farmer organizations had demonstrated unitedly, now 50 farmer organizations are united.
