Ahead of Bharat Bandh on December 8, delegation of 20 farmers meet Centre, extend support to farm laws

PTI photo

New Delhi: In a sigh of relief for the Centre, a delegation of 20 farmers met Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Monday (December 7, 2020) and extended support to the new farm laws. The development comes hours before the 'Bharat Bandh' on December 8, that has been called by the agitating farmers who have camped on the borders of Delhi for almost two weeks now.

"A delegation of 20 farmers mainly from Haryana met Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar today to lend support to the farm laws," reported ANI news agency.

"Farmers who are protesting are misguided. PM has assured that MSP and mandi system will remain," ANI quoted Kanwal Singh Chauhan, President, Progressive Farmers Club, Sonipat, as saying after meeting Tomar.

Chauhan added that the law is progressive in every sense and those who are agitating may be doing so because they may have been influenced or must have seen some shortcomings. 

"Minimum Support Price (MSP) will not be taken back and mandis will be functional and tax will be slashed in mandis for their survival. People are afraid that mandis will be dead. Repeal of laws will harm the farmers. Tax is an issue and can be deliberated on," added Chauhan.

"It is easy to mislead farmers. They are honest. There is the scope of building trust with them by making certain amendments," said Maan Singh Yadav, President, Progressive Farmers Union, Gurugram.

"We are hopeful that our farmers and their young generation will see it as a fruitful profession," expressed Bharatiya Kisan Union (A)'s Athar Singh Sandhu.

This is to be noted that the call for the Bharat Bandh by the farmer unions comes following their several meetings with the Centre that couldn't break the deadlock. The farmers have camped outside as many as five borders across Delhi from the past 10 days demanding the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government at the Centre to repeal the three farm reforms.

The Centre, however, has urged farmers to end stir citing COVID-19 and cold weather and called for the sixth round of talks with farmers' representatives of over 40 unions on December 9.

The reason behind the widespread protests is these three new laws - The Farmers` Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020, and The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.