'It appears that farmer leaders are waging the final battle for middlemen': Sushil Modi

After the 9th round of talks between farmers and the Centre remained inconclusive, Rajya Sabha MP Sushil Modi on Saturday said that by protesting at the border the farmers are infringing on the fundamental rights of the people of Delhi. He said that despite every effort by the Centre, if the farmers are not ready to listen, then they might be "helping the middlemen."

Sushil Modi tweeted in Hindi, "By blocking the Delhi border, farmers have infringed upon fundamental rights of 2 crore people. Day 51 of farmers' protests and Centre has attempted to talk to them for the 9th time, the fact that it also concluded without any solution is disappointing. Seems like farmers' unions are battling for the interest of middlemen."

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Earlier, he had shared the observations of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on the new Farm Laws, and highlighted how the global organization had lauded the reforms for their potential to introduce significant changes in India's agriculture sector. Lashing out at the farmers' unions who have opposed speaking to the SC-appointed panel, Modi had said that those are not real farmers. Hailing the Top court for attempting to end the deadlock between farmers and the Centre, Sushil Modi added that it was a pathbreaking development that the Supreme Court stayed implementation of the laws and asked the farmers to talk. He also opined that it is appalling that instead of obeying the top court, the farmers are planning to disrupt the Republic Day celebrations.

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Centre-Farmer talks

The Centre's 9th round of talks with farmers' unions concluded with a detailed discussion on all three farm laws especially The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020. Speaking to the media on Friday, Union Agricultural Minister Narendra Singh Tomar stated the Centre tried to address the concerns of farmers; he acknowledged that no agreement could be reached. Moreover, he revealed that the farmer leaders had rejected the Centre's request to form a smaller committee to air their grievances.

READ | Centre-farm unions talks to resume on Jan 19; farmers affirm 'no engagement with SC panel'

Supreme Court stays Farm Laws

The Supreme Court had on Tuesday suspended the implementation of the three controversial farm laws until further orders and formed a four-member committee to hold talks and resolve the stand-off between the farmers and the Centre. A key point of the hearing was that four top lawyers who had appeared for the farmers' groups and others in the hearing on Monday failed to appear, as the unions did not wish for an SC intervention in the matter. The 4-member committee of Ashok Gulati, Bhupinder Singh Mann, Pramod Kumar Joshi and Anil Ghanwat was entrusted with submitting its recommendations pertaining to the farm laws within two months from the date of the first sitting - which will happen within 10 days. However, Mann, who is BKU president - has now recused himself from the committee. The farmer unions' have refused to participate in the talks claiming all four members in the committee support the Farm Laws, while the Centre has welcomed the Supreme Court's decision. Farmers are now gearing up for the tractor rally which they will take out on January 26 from Red Fort to India Gate.

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