New Delhi; Protesting farmer union chiefs refused agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar’s offer of tea at a vital meeting on the sixth successive day of protests against recent farm laws. The farmer leaders told that they denied the suggestion “in anger” and instead asked the minister to visit their langar (community kitchen) at protest sites.
During the all-important meeting with 35 farmer union leaders at Delhi’s Vigyan Bhawan, Union agriculture minister Narendra Tomar tried to suppress pressures by taking a tea break 90 minutes after the meeting started. By then, the government had attempted to describe the values of three farm laws at the core of the protests but the farmer leaders were not impressed. One representative, Roop Singh Sanna, later told, “We were expecting home minister Amit Shah or defense minister Rajnath Singh and an out-of-the-box solution. Instead came the same old contracts which we had already declined.”
Farmers were so furious that they denied leaving the Vigyan Bhawan hall for tea outside with the ministers. “We told Tomar Sahab in anger that we don’t want your tea as your press will say we are enjoying pakodas with you. You come and enjoy jalebi in our langar instead,” Punjab Kisan Union leader Rundu Singh told after the discussion. Bharatiya Kisan Union leader Chanda Singh said, “In the November 13 meeting, we had told what we wanted. We were expecting the government to come up with a proposal today to resolve the problem. No such thing was done. So in anger, we refused their tea. The agriculture minister tried to persuade us a lot, but we were upset.”
The farmer leaders desired the agriculture minister to visit the protest sites and show him that protesters had come readied for the long drag and the procedure of wearing them down by procuring more time on the negotiation table won’t fit. “Even the tea he is offering comes from the milk of our dairy farms. We can give him jalebi, laddoo, chai everything, but we will not end our protest till our demands are met,” Prem Singh said.
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The government had proposed to make a panel with 4-5 farmer representatives, government representatives, and agricultural specialists to examine the farm laws. But the suggestion was completely denied by the farmer leaders. The government has asserted that the new laws will bring farmers more promising opportunities and guide with new technologies in agriculture. At the nearly three-hour conference at Vigyan Bhawan, agriculture minister Tomar was attended by railways minister Piyush Goyal and MoS for Commerce Som Parkash, also an MP from Punjab.
BKU Ugrahan faction leader Joginder Singh Ugrahan said,” The meeting was so good that there was no exchange. It remained inconclusive”.Narendra Tomar also met BKU leader from western UP Rakesh Tikait after the Vigyan Bhawan meeting. Another round of discussions will be held on Thursday. Thousands of farmers are anticipated to join protestors at Singh, Tikri, and Ghazipur borders of Delhi. Farmers from Uttarakhand and western Uttar Pradesh could also stream the ranks of protestors. Farmers from Maharashtra were also present at Vigyan Bhawan, conveying solidarity with the Punjab-Haryana kinships. Police have been asked to show constraint while dealing with the farmers.
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