Chidambaram alleges 'Centre wants to tire protesters', demands talks with a 'clean slate'

Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram hit out at the Centre after the 9th round of the talks with the protesting farmers did not result in a tangible outcome on Friday. Lamenting that the Union government remained adamant on its stance, he called upon it to talk to the farmers with a "clean slate" by keeping the implementation of the three agrarian laws on hold. According to him, reforms in the agriculture sector must be done only after widespread consultation. Moreover, Chidambaram alleged that the government's invite to the farmers' unions for another round of talks was a ruse to "tire the protesters". 

Read: 'We Don't Want Anything Other Than Repeal Of Farm Laws': Farmer Unions After Talks

Protests against farm laws continue

From what started as a scheduled protest in the national capital on November 26 and 27, 2020, many farmers are still protesting at the borders of Delhi against The Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020 and The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020. While the Centre appealed to them to shift to the Nirankari Samagam Ground in Burari, only a section of farmers heeded this call. Apart from the 8 rounds of meetings that have taken place between Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Tomar and the farmers' leaders, Union Home Minister Amit Shah also met them on one occasion.

During the 9th round of talks, Narendra Singh Tomar, Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal and MoS Commerce Som Parkash represented the Centre. While the farmers maintained that they will not move from the protest sites till the three agrarian laws are repealed, the Union government refused to concede to this demand. The meeting witnessed some acrimonious scenes with a farmer leader showing a paper with 'We will either die or win' written on it. Previously, the Centre had agreed not to penalise farmers for stubble burning and to continue the present mechanism of giving subsided electricity for agricultural use. Tomar exuded confidence that the impasse will be resolved during the next round of talks scheduled to be held at 2 pm on January 15. 

Read: Noida: 15 UP Farmers Sit On Hunger Strike Against Farm Laws