Agriculture laws: Farmers' unions decide to attend meeting with Centre on Wednesday

Ruchika M. Khanna
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, October 13

All 31 farmers unions in Punjab, who had shown a historic solidarity against the controversial agriculture laws passed by Parliament last month, have agreed to hold talks with the Centre on Wednesday..

It has also been decided that the protests against what they refer to as “kaale kanoon (black law)” will continue.

While representatives of 29 organisations met here on Tuesday and decided to hold discussions with the Centre (on their invitation), BKU (Ekta Ugrahan)—the largest farmer Union, which has been holding separate protests, in coordination with these other unions, too, announced yesterday that they will be going for talks with the Secretary, Agriculture, Government of India. The Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee is the only organisation now which has decided not to participate in the talks.

Interestingly, the leadership of BKU (Ekta Ugrahan) decided to change their protest tactics— they lifted their dharnas from the railway tracks and instead decided to concentrate their energies and resources on dharnas outside the houses of BJP leaders. “Every other union is already holding protest on the rail tracks, so we decided to intensify protests outside the residences of BJP leaders in Punjab,” said Sukhdev Singh Kokrikalan, general secretary of the union.

The other unions, however, have decided to continue their ‘Rail Roko protests’, besides protesting outside the residences of BJP leaders, said Balbir Singh Rajewal, president of BKU Rajewal.

Meanwhile, a delegation of Punjab government comprising of Ministers Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa and Sukhbinder Sarkaria, met the representatives of these 29 Unions, and assured them that a special vidhan sabha session is being convened by the state government next week, to reject the Agriculture Laws passed by the Centre. The ministers are learnt to have asked the farmers to lift the ‘Rail Roko strike’, but they refused to relent.