Farmers' Protest
Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh, Narendra Tomar visit PM Modi's residence ahead of another round of talks with farmers
New Delhi/IBNS: Ahead of the third round of talks with the farmers who are protesting against the Centre's new farm laws, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar visited Prime Minister Narendra Modi's residence here on Saturday, media reports said.
The representatives of the farmers have already left the Singhu border, where the agitators are camped, to hold the meeting with the central ministers.
Thousands of farmers are protesting against the farm laws in the Delhi-Haryana border with their sole demand of the repeal of the laws, which was initially passed through an Ordinance amid the Covid-19 pandemic earlier this year.
One of the Centre's new farm laws will now allow farmers to sell their produce to institutional buyers beyond the regulated wholesale market.
The farmers, who are from Haryana and Punjab in large numbers, have demanded a complete roll back of the three laws and legalising Minimum Support Price (MSP) for the sale of their crops.
The government, which had failed to find a solution to the deadlock in the Nov 1 and Nov 3 meetings, has so far hinted no possibility for a roll back of the laws, which Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) claim to be a revolution for the peasants.
Though the middlemen in the wholesale markets are often accused of usurping the farmers in the earlier agricultural system, the protesters, backed by several opposition parties, fear they will have little bargaining power while selling their produce to institutional buyers, running the risk of getting exploited with the gradual destablising of the mundies.
Intensifying the protests, the farmers have called a nationwide strike (bandh) on Dec 8 and also said they will accept nothing short of the repeal of the laws.
"The new farm laws will provide new alternatives and new legal protections to the farmers. The new farm laws' implementation doesn't mean discarding the old system," Modi said in recent times.
Though Modi is speaking in favour of the laws and blaming the Opposition for instigating the peasants, the farmers' organisation of his party's parent body Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) have criticised the government over the issue.
The RSS-affiliate Bharatiya Kisan Sangh (BKS) came out in support of the farmers stating the new farm laws will only serve the interests of the corporate houses and big traders.
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