Union agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Thursday, 26 November, invited the farmer unions from Punjab for talks on 3 December to resolve differences on Centre’s new farm laws assuring that the talks will bear a positive result, reported Hindustan Times.
He made an appeal to the farmers to not get agitated and said that the government is ready to meet and resolve issues.
On the same day, Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh also said that he was ready to discuss issues with the protesting farmers and invited them for talks, adding that he was the son of a farmer himself.
WHAT SINGH SAID
Speaking at the HT Leadership Summit 2020, Singh said: “I want to reassure the farmers of this country. They should end their agitation. I invite them for talks. I am the defence minister but I invite them as the son of a farmer. We can never cheat farmers.”
He added that the new laws would lead to higher farm incomes and that the results would be visible in the next four to five years.
WHAT TOMAR SAID
He also added that the new farm laws were the need of the hour. “It’s going to bring revolutionary changes in the coming time,” he said.
For the second round of discussion, we have called the representatives of over 30 farmer organisations on 3 December, at 11 am at Vigyan Bhawan, Food Secretary Sudhanshu Pandey told Press Trust of India.
WHY ARE FARMERS PROTESTING?
Farmers are protesting the Centre’s new farm laws which according to them would pave the way for dismantling the MSP system.
On Thursday morning, security at Delhi-Haryana border was tightened to stop the protesting farmers from entering the national capital. Haryana has also sealed off its border with Punjab and Delhi as reported by Hindustan Times,
Earlier this morning, near Ambala, Haryana Police used water cannon and tear gas to stop the protesting farmers from reaching Delhi. This move by the Haryana Police is being highly criticised.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday morning said that peaceful protest is farmers’ constitutional right.
(With Inputs from PTI & Hindustan Times)
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