Chandigarh:

A meeting between a Central team led by Union Minister Pralhad Joshi and farmers’ representatives to discuss their various demands, including a legal guarantee for MSP on crops, was held in Chandigarh cordially on Friday and the next round of talks has been slated for February 22.

The over two-and-a-half-hour meeting with the 28-member delegation from the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) and the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha was held after a year-long protest by farmers.

It was also attended by Punjab Agriculture Minister Gurmeet Singh Khuddian, the state’s Minister for Food and Civil Supplies Lal Chand Kataruchak and other state government representatives.

The two outfits have been spearheading the ongoing farmers’ protest at Shambhu and Khanauri on the Punjab-Haryana border for the past one year.

Following the meeting at the Mahatma Gandhi State Institute of Public Administration here, the Union minister of consumer affairs, food and public distribution said the talks were held in a cordial atmosphere and another round of talks will be held on February 22.

Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan will lead the central team in the next meeting, Pralhad Joshi said, adding that he would also be a part of that talk.

“Details about the steps taken by the Narendra Modi government for farmers’ welfare were shared with their leaders in today’s meeting,” he added.

Talking to reporters separately, farmer leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal, who is on an indefinite fast, too said that the meeting was held in a positive atmosphere and another meeting will be held next week on February 22.

He was brought to the meeting venue from the Khanauri protest site in an ambulance. Farmer leader Kaka Singh Kotra said it took four hours for Jagjit Singh Dallewal to reach Chandigarh.

Jagjit Singh Dallewal, the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) convenor, has been on an indefinite hunger strike at the Khanauri border point since November 26 to press the Centre on various demands, including a legal guarantee for MSP on crops.

About Friday’s meeting farmer leader Sarwan Singh Pandher said, “We discussed in detail the issue of legal guarantee to MSP for crops in the meeting.” Another farmer leader Abhimanyu Kohar said earlier in the day that the government should frame a law to give a guarantee for MSP. He also said the farmers are convinced that a law guaranteeing MSP on crops will benefit every section of the country.

Prominent leaders who were part of the farmer delegation are Sarwan Singh Pandher, Abhimanyu Kohar, Kaka Singh Kotra, Sukhjit Singh, PR Pandian, Arun Sinha, Lakhwinder Singh, Jaswinder Longowal, MS Rai, Nand Kumar, Balwant Singh Behramke and Inderjit Singh Kotbudha.

On January 18, a delegation of senior officials from the Union agriculture ministry, led by Joint Secretary Priya Ranjan, invited representatives from the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) and the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha for a meeting to discuss their demands.

Jagjit Singh Dallewal had agreed to take medical aid following the invitation but refused to end his fast unto death.

Four rounds of meetings took place between central ministers and the protesting farmers in February 2024 but the talks remained inconclusive.

A panel of three Union ministers — Arjun Munda, Piyush Goyal and Nityanand Rai — held talks with farmers’ representatives on February 18 last year.

At that time, the farmers had rejected the Centre’s proposal of buying pulses, maize and cotton crops at MSP by government agencies for five years.

Kisan Mazdoor Morcha leader Pandher on Thursday said they would make efforts to nudge the Centre towards resolving the farmers’ issues.

Farmers, under the banner of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) and the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha, have been camping at the Shambhu and the Khanauri border points between Punjab and Haryana since February 13 last year after security forces did not allow them to march to Delhi to press for their various demands.

Besides a legal guarantee for crop MSP, the farmers are demanding a debt waiver, pension for farmers and farm labourers, no hike in electricity tariffs, withdrawal of police cases and “justice” for the victims of the 2021 Lakhimpur Kheri violence.

Reinstatement of the Land Acquisition Act 2013 and compensation to the families of farmers who died during a previous agitation in 2020-21 are also part of their demands

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Chandigarh:

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Friday attacked the Centre, asking if the BJP-led government will not allow the protesting farmers camping at the Shambhu and Khanauri border to enter Delhi, should he “send them to Lahore”.

Farmers from Punjab, led by Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) and Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM), began the ‘Delhi Chalo’ march on February 13 to press the government to accept their demands which include that the Centre should give a legal guarantee for minimum support price (MSP) for crops.

They were stopped by the Haryana Police, which had set up barricades, including cemented blocks, on the Ambala-New Delhi national highway. The farmers have been camping at the Shambhu and Khanauri border points since then.

“At Khanauri and Shambhu, the border has been fortified with iron nails and barricading so that farmers cannot enter Delhi. The government runs from Delhi so they will go there. If they will not go to Delhi, should I send them to Lahore?” Mr Mann said, while addressing a public meeting in poll-bound Haryana.

The chief minister addressed two rallies — one in Hisar’s Barwala and the other in Sirsa’s Dabwali. Haryana goes to polls later this year and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has said it will contest on all the 90 seats.

At the Barwala event, the chief minister said even four years ago, the farmers were stopped from entering Delhi.

“As many as 726 farmers died during the farmers’ protest against the now repealed farm laws when they were stopped earlier,” he added.

Mr Mann alleged that people of Haryana gave chance to different parties but they all looted the state.

“If a doctor is not able to cure an ailment then the doctor should be changed,” the AAP leader said, adding that like Delhi and Punjab voters, people of Haryana should also “vote for ‘badlav’ (change) this time”.

Mr Mann touched upon several initiatives of the AAP governments in Punjab and Delhi.

In Punjab, 43,000 government jobs have been given purely on merit basis, the chief minister claimed.

“There have been paper leak incidents in Haryana but in Punjab, you will not hear such things,” Mr Mann added.

He said Punjab and Haryana are brothers.

“We may have become separate states but our hearts are one,” Mr Mann said.

“We are giving 600 units of free electricity to everyone per billing cycle of two months in Punjab,” he said.

Mr Mann said the AAP government in Delhi has reformed the government schools.

“Children of poor families are cracking top competitive exams in Delhi now,” he said.

“We have taken the government to people’s doorsteps to facilitate them and make their lives better,” Mr Mann said.

He urged the people of Haryana not to be carried away by the promises being made by the BJP and the Congress.

“Earlier, they (BJP and Congress) used to rule by turns and people had no other option, but now they have an alternative in the AAP,” Mr Mann said.

“The BJP has been in power for 10 years. Did they give you any job or did they undertake development?” he asked, while addressing the gathering.

“I am told if it rains for one minute in Barwala, people have to take out boats. Such is the situation,” Mann said.

Attacking the BJP government at the Centre, he said during the Lok Sabha polls, the BJP talked of “400 paar” but now they are running their government with the support of allies.

“Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal belongs to Haryana and he changed the direction of the country’s politics. He had said the BJP will change the Constitution if they get overwhelming majority. Thankfully, they did not get majority, otherwise they would have changed the Constitution,” Mr Mann said.

Meanwhile, at Dabwali, Mr Mann told the gathering that with nearly three months to go for the Haryana polls, the BJP will give “lollipops”.

“They gave this lollipop during the Lok Sabha elections also, when they claimed to have reduced cooking gas cylinder price after hiking it manifold. Be wary of their lollipops,” Mr Mann said.

Further taking a dig at the BJP, he said, “They keeping about double-engine (government). Then they changed one engine midway replacing (Manohar Lal) Khattar. Was the engine defective or what happened? Now, they brought another engine.” He told the people of Haryana that the country does not need double engine but it needs a new engine.

“Only one engine is sufficient. Otherwise you may have five engines but what will they do if they are not good?” said Mr Mann.

He also talked about several initiatives of his government in Punjab taken for the welfare of various sections. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)