Scheduling talks in evening bid to exhaust us, say farmers

Protesting farm unions on Thursday objected to the evening schedule of the talks with Union government representatives, expressing apprehensions that it might be a part of a psychological tactic to wear them out.

The objection has come a day after the Centre sent a formal invite for a second round of talks in recent days. The discussion is scheduled to take place at Chandigarh’s Mahatma Gandhi State Institute of Public Administration (MGSIPA) on February 22 at 6 pm.

Sarwan Singh Pandher, convener of the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM), said even the last round of talks on February 14 was held in the evening.

“What we assume is that the government is employing a strategy to exhaust farmers before the talks by delaying the meeting and stretching it until midnight,” he said.

Pandher said fasting farmer leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal, who will be taking part in the discussions on February 22, had to be brought in an ambulance to the meeting venue, then ferried back to the Punjab’s Khanauri border with Haryana in early hours of the next day.

“We are familiar with this strategy as it was used during the farmers’ agitation that took place on Delhi borders in 2020-21,” he said. “If it is some psychological tactic, then I must clarify that it is bound to fail,” added Pandher.

Meanwhile, Dallewal — the convener of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) — sought support from other farm unions for their stir that had started on February 13 at Punjab’s Khanauri and Shambhu border points with Haryana after the farmers’ march to the national capital was stopped by the Haryana Police. The farmers’ demands include a law assuring a minimum support price (MSP) for crops.

“Our struggle has reached a crucial juncture. At this stage, we need support,” said Dallewal seeking the backing of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), an umbrella body of farm unions that had led a year-long struggle against the Centre’s now-withdrawn three agriculture laws in 2020-21.

“A parliamentary committee had also recommended a legal guarantee for the MSP. This is why we have appealed to the SKM leadership for talks on February 27 so that we could prepare a common minimum programme to strengthen our protest and press the government to implement the MSP and address other challenges faced by the farming community,” said Dallewal in a statement.

Separate events on death anniversary of Shubhkaran

The SKM (Non- Political) and the KMM will be holding separate programmes to mark the first death anniversary of 22-year-old Shubhkaran Singh, who had died of a bullet wound when security personnel on the Haryana side opened fire at the protesting farmers at the Khanauri border on February 21.