A day before the crucial talks between the Centre and the protesting farmer unions, Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Thursday said the government is ready to consider any proposal other than repeal of three farm laws, the key demand of the farmers.
The farmers have said the weather will not dampen their spirit and they will continue the protest till their demands are met.
'Have you seen a situation like this anywhere before, globally or in India, where a government says, okay, we are withdrawing a law because you don't want it?'
Western UP contributes nearly 70 seats to the 402-member UP assembly. In 2017, the BJP had swept the region. Every pre-2022 poll survey had suggested the party would face its biggest attrition from this region because of the farmers' groups.
'This government will end after five years, but farmers will not end after five years.' 'This is the source of our confidence.'
Let the implementation of reforms be left to the discretion of individual states and ensure an end to the illogical stir, argues Virendra Kapoor.
The letter by Singh, who is camping at the Dalit Prerna Sthal in Noida along with his faction members since December 2, came as protestors marked the birth anniversary of former prime minister and farmers' leader Chaudhary Charan Singh.
Companies expect to reach full capacity in August after fixing supply chains that collapsed in the months-long lockdown to contain the coronavirus.
Farmer unions opposing the Centre's new agri laws on Wednesday rejected a suggestion by police officers to hold their proposed January 26 tractor rally on the Kundli-Manesar-Palwal Expressway instead of Delhi's busy Outer Ring Road, sources said.
'The Galwan crisis involves the security of the nation, can't we spend eight hours on that?' 'Why are you scared? Why are you running away from that?
Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha leader Derek O' Brien met the agitating farmers at the Singhu border in the afternoon.
A political slugfest broke out on Wednesday between the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's cavalcade, in a major security breach, got stranded on a flyover, 30 km away from Hussainiwala in Punjab, as a group of protesting farmers blocked his route.
The Lakhimpur Kheri violence, in which four farmers were killed, is "absolutely condemnable," Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said, emphasising that there are issues of such nature happening in other parts of India equally which should be raised "when they happen and not when it suits others" because there is a Bharatiya Janata Party government in Uttar Pradesh.
Responding to the NCP leader's remarks, Tomar said Pawar, who is a veteran leader, is also considered well-versed with the issues and solutions relating to agriculture. "Pawar himself tried hard to bring the same agriculture reforms earlier."
A large number of farmers on Tuesday squatted at the gates of the district headquarters in Karnal, locked in a showdown with Haryana's Bharatiya Janata Party-led government over a police lathi-charge last month.
Referring to Modi, Adityanath and Union Home Minister Amit Shah as 'outsiders', the farmer leader said he has no objection if they become prime ministers after winning polls from Uttarakhand or Gujarat.
'Prime Minister Modi stated several times that we shall not let this challenge go away without converting it into an opportunity to undertake systemic reforms.' 'And hasn't that been reiterated in action?'
Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Friday announced job for a member of the family of each farmer from the state who died during the agitation against the Centre's new farm laws.
The Congress is strongly opposed to the three Central legislations which were signed into laws by President Ram Nath Kovind on Sunday.
The Bhartiya Kisan Union Lokshakti said the principle of natural justice is going to be violated as those appointed to the four-member committee 'have already supported these laws'.
'We will resist it.' 'Farmers will not let that happen.'
The farmer leaders said they are not willing to participate in any proceedings before a committee appointed by the Supreme Court, but a formal decision on this will be taken by the Morcha.
"The cancellation of the UK prime minister's visit because of all these efforts is surely a big victory for farmers," the statement said.
Agriculture credit jumped seven-fold to Rs 7,00,000 crore (Rs 7 trillion) in the past ten years of UPA government, boosting foodgrains output to a record and enabling enactment of food law.
"You take any section of society be it Dalits, weavers or Brahmins, everybody has been exploited. The administration of Yogi Adityanath ji is working completely against the 'vichaar' (thoughts) of Guru Gorakhnath," she said at a rally, taking a swipe at the BJP leader who is also the head of the prominent Mutt in Gorakhpur named after Saint Gorakhnath.
'These three commodities have been chosen very well.' 'It is up to the state governments and central government to see how it is implemented.' 'The government has to do some hand-holding.'
"Those who are sitting on dharna are farmers and are born to farmers' families. We have a lot of respect for them," Singh said.
Instead of the special session earlier, the cabinet meeting, chaired by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, decided to recommend to the Governor to convene the 21st session of the 14th Kerala Legislative Assembly on December 31 to discuss the farmers' issue.
Farmer leader Kulwant Singh Sandhu had said that 32 farmer unions from Punjab held a meeting on Tuesday and discussed the next course of action.
This crisis requires political sophistication and governance skills. This BJP has neither, observes Shekhar Gupta.
Extended rounds of negotiations having failed, farm leaders now reckon that their best chance to pressure the government lay in defeating the BJP in the coming assembly poll, particularly in UP, observes Virendra Kapoor.
Asserting that the agitation against the Centre's farm laws is a people's movement that will not fail, Bharatiya Kisan Union leader Rakesh Tikait on Sunday said there will be no 'ghar wapsi' till protesting farmers' demands are met.
This is contrary to the expectations of a majority of analysts predicting for another hike given the rise in inflation lately, including domestic ratings agency Icra
SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal announced the decision to snap ties with the NDA on Saturday night, amid stepped up agitation by farmers in Punjab over the three legislations which were recently passed by Parliament amid Opposition protests.
He again assured farmers that the existing government support system for them will continue.
'They will somehow survive the pandemic, but if these laws are not amended for the benefit of farmers, or is not scrapped altogether, they will surely die of penury and exploitation.'
At a press conference after a meeting of the party's senior leaders, K C Venugopal said the Congress will also launch a massive signature campaign in which it aims to collect two crore signatures from farmers and the poor people against farm bills.
'There is nothing more this government can do now to break our agitation.' 'It has used all the tactics and has failed'
The committee would submit its report in the next two weeks.
Hundreds of farmers, chiefly from Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, continue to encamp Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur border points of Delhi despite "a few" of them being removed after testing positive for COVID-19 and some symptomatic protesters undergoing medication.
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