The representatives of the farmers’ organizations are meeting the Union Ministers today for the fourth round of talks. At the lunch break, the farmers said no to the foods organized by the government. “We are not accepting food or tea offered by the government. We have brought our own food,” a farmer leader said.
This meeting comes amid the ‘Delhi Chalo’ protest march called by farmer unions from across the country, particularly from Punjab and Haryana. At present, thousands of farmers are camping on Delhi’s borders, demanding that the Centre withdraw its three new farm laws or assure Minimum Support Price (MSP) in writing.
On Thursday, a delegation of farm leaders met Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, Union Minister Piyush Goyal and other senior officials at the Vigyan Bhawan in Delhi to discuss their demands.
The protesting farmers had asked the Centre to convene a special session of Parliament and repeal the farm laws as they threatened to block other roads in Delhi and ‘take more steps’ if it failed to do so.
Meanwhile, ex-Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal returned the Padma Vibhushan award in protest against the ‘betrayal’ of farmers by the Union government on Thursday.
This was followed by Former Union minister and SAD (Democratic) President Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa announcing that he would be returning his Padma Bhushan award.
They are demanding that the government withdraw the farm laws if it wants them to end their stir.