News Analysis India

Tag: Bhartiya Kisan Union

  • Farmers’ leaders should decide whether they want praise from Pakistan, cautions Union Minister Balyan slamming Rakesh Tikait

    By ANI

    NEW DELHI: Terming Kisan Mahapanchayat a “political gathering”, Union Minister Sanjeev Balyan on Monday slammed Bhartiya Kisan Union (Arajnaitik) leader, Rakesh Tikait for becoming a tool in hands of the country’s rivals.

    Balyan, Member of Parliament from Muzzafarnagar constituency, asked farmer leaders to think about whether they want to be praised by the Pakistan government for their agitation against the Central government.

    Responding to Radio Pakistan tweet about Kisan Mahapanchayat in Muzzafarnagar, Balyan said, “When elections come, everyone indulges in rallies and Uttar Pradesh gets too many rallies. But farmers leaders need to think about whether they want praise from the Pakistan government?”

    “Those who are India’s enemies or oppose us, whether these leaders want to be liked by our rivals like Pakistan. They need to decide this for themselves,” he added.

    He, however, cautioned farmers into getting played in hands of other political parties lending support to agitation to further their own propaganda.

    “It felt like Rajnitik mahapanchayat, a political gathering rather than Kisan mahapanchayat. Farmers issues were barely discussed in that gathering,” observed Balyan. The minister further said that farmers are being misused by various political parties to further their agendas.

    “We saw banners and flags of various political parties in that Mahapanchayat. Everyone knows who took the farmers to Red Fort,” stated Balyan.

    A Kisan Mahapanchayat was held in Muzzafarnagar on Sunday against three farm laws by the Centre and declared that they will campaign against BJP in the upcoming assembly elections. The Mahapanchayat witnessed participation from various political parties.

    Balyan, however, expressed confidence that the BJP would win the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls again.

    “BJP will form government in Uttar Pradesh. The elections are in February and in March we will sit to form the government. We will go to everyone even those who did Mahapanchayat. Even those who are opposing us and will ask for votes” said the union minister who slammed Tikait for taking out a tractor rally during Muzzafarnagar riots against the government.

    “UP hasn’t forgotten the period between 2012 and 2017,” stated the minister.

    UP Assembly polls are scheduled to take place early next year. In 2017, the BJP won a landslide victory winning 312 Assembly seats. The party secured a 39.67 per cent vote share in the elections for 403-member Assembly. Samajwadi Party (SP) bagged 47 seats, BSP won 19 while Congress could manage to win only seven seats.

    Tikait on Monday said that the new agricultural laws are stifling the farmers slowly unlike COVID which will take life at a one go.

    “No one questioned the yataras organised by the government. The laws made by the government are more dangerous than COVID. Pandemic will kill you in one go but the laws of the government will kill people slowly,” he said when asked that a huge number of people gathered at the Kisan Mahapanchayat organised by the Sanyukt Kisan Morcha in Muzaffarnagar can turn to super spreader event as COVID infections soar.

    “The gathering at the Kisan Mahapanchayat at the Muzaffarnagar is proof that people are not satisfied with the work of the government.”

    Tikait also reiterated that they would not leave the Delhi borders till “they emerge victorious”.

    The Sanyukt Kisan Morcha’s ‘Kishan Mahapanchayat’ was held at the Government Inter College grounds in Muzaffarnagar.

    Speaking to ANI, the farmer leader said that BKU does not want to join the politics and instead it is in favour of resolving their issues.

    This comes in response to Union Minister and Muzaffarnagar MP Sanjeev Balyan earlier on Sunday said that if Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) wants to enter politics then the BJP will be welcome them.

    “We do not want to join politics. We just want the issues of farmers to be resolved. There are leaders in BJP who are supporting the farmers. The people know who are the leaders not supporting farmers, they will react according to it. Balyan should support the farmers like Varun Gandhi and Satya Pal Malik,” Tikait said.

    Bharatiya Janata Party MP from Pilibhit, Varun Gandhi had come out in support of protesting farmers and said that the Centre should understand the pain of farmers.

    Farmers have been protesting on the different borders of the national capital since November 26 last year against the three newly enacted farm laws: 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.Farmer leaders and the Centre have held several rounds of talks but the impasse remains.

  • Seven months of farmers’ protests: Leaders in no mood to relent, say will end stir if agri laws repealed

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: As their agitation completed seven months, farmer leaders on Saturday stuck to their demands, saying they will call off their protest if the government repeals the three farm laws even as Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar appealed to them to end their stir and offered to resume talks.

    Yudhvir Singh, general secretary of Bhartiya Kisan Union, an umbrella body of farm unions that is spearheading the agitation, said farmers will end the protest once the agri laws are repealed.

    “The government does talk about minimum support price. The government always talk about the amendment in the laws. However, we want them to repeal the laws. We also want them to introduce a law on MSP,” Singh said.

    Shiv Kumar Kakka, national president of the Rashtriya Kisan Mazdoor Mahasangh, said they will not hold talks under any precondition.

    “We have lost over 600 farmers in last seven months and they (government) are telling us to end this agitation. There will be no dialogue under any preconditions.”

    “If the government repeals the three farm laws and makes a new one with the guarantee of minimum support price (MSP), we will thank them and head back to our respective places,” Kakka said.

    The government and farmer unions have held 11 rounds of talks so far, the last being on January 22, to break the deadlock and end the farmers’ protest.

    Talks have not resumed following widespread violence during a tractor rally by protesting farmers on January 26.

    Jamhuri Kisan Sabha general secretary Kulwant Singh said they also want to go back home as soon as possible.

    “The government is asking us to end the protest as they are ready for talks. We have already asked the government several times to repeal the three laws. If they do so, we will head back home as soon as possible from the borders. We do not like doing this and staying out of home for months,” Singh said.

    The Supreme Court had put on hold the implementation of the three laws till further orders and has set up a committee to find solutions.

    The committee has submitted its report.

    “I want to convey through your (media) that farmers should end their agitation. Many are in favour of these new laws across the country. Still, some farmers have any issue with provisions of the laws, Government of India is ready to listen and discuss with them,” Tomar tweeted on Saturday.

    He said the government held 11 rounds of consultations with protesting farmer unions.

    The government has increased the minimum support price (MSP) and is procuring more quantity at MSP.

    On Saturday, hundreds of farmers from interiors of Uttar Pradesh, many of them on tractors, reached Ghazipur on Delhi’s borders to mark the completion of seven months of the protest.

    Led by Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rakesh Tikait, a group of protesters submitted a memorandum of their demands at the office of DCP Northeast Delhi after a virtual meeting with Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal.

    The farmers had given a call for a protest march from Civil Lines metro station to the Raj Bhawan, a senior police officer said, adding that the Delhi Police tightened security across borders of the national capital in view of the anticipated march.

    Thousands of farmers, mainly from Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh, have been camping at Delhi’s borders for seven months now in protest the three laws that they say will end state procurement of crops at MSP.

    Farmers’ protest had started on November 26 last year and has now completed seven months notwithstanding the coronavirus pandemic.

  • Lakhs gathering in poll-bound Bengal, farmers should not be maligned for COVID: Tikait

    Tikait also expressed his gratitude to Haryana Home and Health Minister Anil Vij who had said last week that he will soon write a letter to the Union Agriculture Minister.

  • After Delhi, BKU leader Rakesh Tikait threatens tractor agitation in Gujarat

    By PTI
    AHMEDABAD: Bhartiya Kisan Union leader Rakesh Tikait on Monday threatened to start a farmers’ tractor agitation in Gujarat after Delhi, and said time has come to gherao the state capital Gandhinagar and also break barricades if needed.

    Talking to reporters outside the Sabarmati Ashram here, Tikait claimed farmers in Gujarat were unhappy and suffering.

    Hundreds of farmers have been camping at Delhi’s borders since November last year against the Centre’s three agriculture reform laws.

    They are demanding a repeal of the three laws along with a legal guarantee for Minimum Support Price (MSP) for their produce.

    The protesting farmers took out a tractor rally in Delhi on January 26.

    “Farmers will conduct agitation in Gujarat using their tractors. Time has come to gherao Gandhinagar and block roads. If needed, we will have to break barricades too,” Tikait said.

    The BKU leader is on a two-day tour of Gujarat since Sunday to campaign against the Centre’s three farm laws.

    On the second day of his visit, Tikait, accompanied by former Gujarat chief minister Shankersinh Vaghela, paid tributes to Mahatma Gandhi at the Sabarmati Ashram.

    “Farmers are suffering because there is no agitation here. There is no backing from courts also. Farmers are compelled to say they are happy and making profit. Please give us that technology which is helping Gujarat’s farmers to reap benefits,” said Tikait.

    He claimed farmers of Banaskantha are compelled to sell potatoes for Rs 3 per kilogram.

    “Is that enough to make farmers happy? We have come here to remove fear from the minds of farmers. We will agitate in a peaceful manner,” Tikait said, when asked about his future plans for Gujarat.

    Later, Tikait and Vaghela reached Karamsad town in Anand district and paid tributes to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel at his native place.

    Tikait then headed to Bardoli in Surat, where he would address farmers in the evening.

  • Rail roko: ‘Will burn crops but continue stir’, says BKU leader Rakesh Tikait

    By Express News Service
    There was no violence or untoward incident, but the nationwide ‘rail roko’ programme called by the farmer unions in protest against agri laws saw some disruptions in train services in a few states. Services were affected as farmers blocked tracks in Punjab, Haryana, Karnataka and parts of Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and West Bengal from 12 noon to 4 pm.

    In most other states, the rail roko call received a lukewarm response. While farmer leaders claimed the four-hour stir was peaceful and a big success, the railways claimed it had negligible impact. “A few trains were stopped in some areas but operations are normal now,” a railway spokesperson said. Farmer leaders reiterated the agitation will continue.

    ALSO READ| Rail roko will be peaceful, will not join politics: BKU leader Rakesh Tikait

    “Even if you have to set your standing crop on fire, you should be prepared for it. The government should not be under any misconception that farmers will soon leave the protest sites to harvest crops. If they insist, then we will burn our crops. The government should not think that protest will end in two months. We will harvest our crops as well as protest… There will be no ‘ghar wapsi’ till then,” Bhartiya Kisan Union leader Rakesh Tikait told a mahapanchayat in Hisar.

    Tikait advised the farmers to “keep your tractors filled with fuel and facing towards Delhi” saying “you can get a call to move at any time”.

    No big impact on train operations

    The railways said the agitation passed off without any untoward incident and there was negligible orminimal impact 

  • Ready to take agitation across the nation: Rakesh Tikait

    Express News Service
    NEW DELHI:  With farm agitation entering its 73rd day at the Ghazipur border, farmer leader and Bhartiya Kisan Union spokesperson Rakesh Tikait is not ready to budge but move ahead. Talking to Siddhanta Mishra, Tikait said he is planning to attend more meetings and grow the agitation across the country

    What is the way forward for the farmer agitation?In the next few days, we will expand the reach of our agitation and will visit programmes in Uttar Pradesh and Haryana. The protest will continue from here and I will visit other places as well. We are getting support from everywhere and will continue our agitation till the farm laws are taken back.

    When is the next meeting with the government?The government has to tell. We are ready for talks like the way they used to happen earlier. We have a committee and system in place for scheduling talks. If they get the proposal, talks will take place.

    PM Modi recently said he is just a phone call away?Formal talks do not happen like this. The Centre very well knows how to communicate to us and our unions.

    You are becoming the face of the agitation. How big is this responsibility?I am a nobody. The Samyukta Kisan Morcha is the face of this protest and the entire farming community is to be given credit for this agitation. Our main stage and our main council is at Singhu border. Everything is happening under the Samyukta Kisan Morcha. The Ghazipur protest is a part of that.

    Was there a ‘Jawan vs Kisan’ situation at some instances during protest?Both are the same. ‘Jawan’ comes from ‘Kisan’. A soldier guards country’s border, a farmer guards their farmlands. Both are in tandem.

  • BKU distances itself from violence, Red Fort incident during farmers’ tractor rally

    By ANI
    GHAZIABAD: Bhartiya Kisan Union Rakesh spokesperson Rakesh Tikait on Wednesday distanced himself from the violence and Red Fort incident during farmers’ tractor rally on the Republic Day, stating that those who created violence and unfurled flags at the fort will have to pay for their deeds.

    Speaking to ANI, Tikait alleged that “uneducated people” were driving tractors who did not know the paths of Delhi.

    ALSO READ | Farmers’ union calls meeting to discuss violence during tractor parade in Delhi

    “Uneducated people were driving tractors, they did not know the paths of Delhi. Administration told them the way towards Delhi. They went to Delhi and returned home. Some of them unknowingly deflected towards Red Fort. Police guided them to return and they returned,” Tikait said.

    “Those who created violence and unfurled flags at Red Fort will have to pay for their deeds. For the last two months, a conspiracy is going on against a particular community. This is not a movement of Sikhs, but farmers. Our issues remain the same and our protest will continue,” he added.

    ALSO READ | Of tractors and detractors: BJP top brass silent on rally that turned unruly

    On Tuesday, protesters agitating against the new farm laws entered the premises of Red Fort in the national capital and waved flags they were carrying from its ramparts.

    Commenting on the allegations of farmer unions that Punjabi actor-singer-activist Deep Sidhu directed youth to move towards the Red Fort, he said, “Deep Sidhu is not a Sikh, he is a worker of the BJP. There is a picture of him with the Prime Minister. This is a movement of farmers and will remain so. Some people will have to leave this place immediately- those who broke barricading will never be a part of the movement.”

    On being asked about the viral video where Tikait was seen appealing to his supporters to be armed with lathis, the BKU spokesperson said, “We said bring your own sticks. Please show me a flag without a stick, I will accept my mistake.”

    An undated video of Tikait gone viral wherein he is seen asking and appealing to his supporters to be armed with lathis and be prepared to save their land.

    A total of 22 FIRs have been registered in different police stations across the national capital in connection with the violence which broke out during yesterday’s farmers’ tractor rally. According to sources in the Delhi Police, the process of filing the FIRs started last night and “over 300 Delhi Police personnel were injured during the farmers’ tractor violence at different locations in the national capital.”

    A day after the violence broke out during a tractor rally in various parts of the national capital, security has been heightened at the Singhu border (Delhi-Haryana border), and Tikri border, where farmers have been protesting against agricultural laws for over two months. A large number of security forces has been deployed at the protest site.

    Farmers broke barricades to enter Delhi and indulged in vandalism across several parts of the national capital during their Kisan tractor rally organised to protest against the Centre’s three new farm laws. Several public and private properties being damaged in acts of vandalism by the rioting mob.

    Farmers have been protesting on the different borders of the national capital since November 26 against the three newly enacted farm laws – 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.

  • Government-farmers talks hit roadblock; Unions threaten to intensify agitation

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The government’s negotiations with protesting farm unions hit a roadblock on Friday as the farmer leaders stuck to their demands for a complete repeal of three farm laws they find pro-corporate and a legal guarantee for MSP, even as the Centre asked them to reconsider its proposal for putting the Acts on hold for 12-18 months.

    Unlike the last 10 rounds of talks, the 11th round could not even reach a decision on the next date for the meeting as the government also hardened its position saying it is ready to meet again once the unions agree to discuss the suspension proposal.

    This followed a big climbdown made by the Centre during the last round when they offered to suspend the laws and form a joint committee to find solutions. Farmer leaders said they will intensify their agitation now and alleged that the government’s approach was not right during the meeting.

    While the meeting lasted for almost five hours, the two sides sat face to face for less than 30 minutes. In the very beginning, the farmer leaders informed the government that they have decided to reject the proposal made by the government in the last round of talks on Wednesday.

    The three central ministers, including Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, urged the union representatives to reconsider their stand, after which the two sides went for a lunch break. The break, during which the farmer leaders had their langar (community kitchen) food, lasted for more than three hours.

    The break also saw the 41 farmer leaders holding consultations among themselves, at times in smaller groups, while the three central ministers waited in a separate room at Vigyan Bhawan. After the meeting, Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ugrahan) leader Joginder Singh Ugrahan said the discussions have broken down as the unions rejected the government’s proposal.

    The ministers told the unions that they have been given all possible options and they must discuss internally the proposal of suspending the laws. Sources said that Tomar told the farmer leaders that the government would be ready for another meeting if farmers want to discuss the proposal.

    The minister also thanked unions for their cooperation and said while there were no problems with the laws, the government offered to suspend them as respect for the protesting farmers. Coming out of the meeting venue, farmer leader Shiv Kumar Kakka said there was no headway in the discussions and the government asked unions to deliberate on its proposal again.

    Kakka was the first to leave the meeting, but said it was for “some personal reasons”. In the last round of meetings held on Wednesday, the government had offered to put on hold the three laws and set up a joint committee to find solutions.

    However, after internal consultations on Thursday, the farmer unions decided to reject the offer and stick to their two major demands — the repeal of the three laws and a legal guarantee of the minimum support price (MSP).

    “We told the government that we will not agree to anything other than the repeal of the laws. But the minister asked us to discuss separately again and rethink the matter and convey the decision,” said farmer leader Darshan Pal.

    BKU leader Rakesh Tikait said: “We conveyed our position clearly to the government that we want a repeal of the laws and not a suspension. The ministers asked us to reconsider our decision.” Some leaders expressed apprehensions that the movement will lose its momentum once the farmers go away from Delhi borders.

    Harpal Singh, President of Bhartiya Kisan Union — Asli Arajnaitik (Real Apolitical), said, “Even if we accept the government’s offer, our fellow brothers sitting at Delhi borders will not accept anything other than a repeal of the laws. They will not spare us. What achievement will we show to them?”

    He also questioned the government’s credibility, alleging it was difficult to believe that they will keep their word on putting the laws on hold for 18 months. “We will die here but we will not return without getting the laws repealed,” Singh said.

    Along with Union Agriculture Minister Tomar, Railways, Commerce and Food Minister Piyush Goyal and Minister of State for Commerce Som Parkash are also participating in the talks with representatives of 41 farmer unions at the Vigyan Bhawan here.

    In a full general body meeting on Thursday, Samyukt Kisan Morcha, the umbrella body of the protesting unions, rejected the government’s proposal. “A full repeal of three central farm Acts and enacting a legislation for remunerative MSP for all farmers were reiterated as the pending demands of the movement,” the Morcha said in a statement.

    Thousands of farmers, mainly from Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh, are protesting at various border points of Delhi for over a month now against the three laws.

    Farmer groups have alleged these laws will end the mandi and MSP procurement systems and leave the farmers at the mercy of big corporates, even as the government has rejected these apprehensions as misplaced.

    On January 11, the Supreme Court stayed the implementation of the three laws till further orders and appointed a four-member panel to resolve the impasse. Bhartiya Kisan Union president Bhupinder Singh Mann had recused himself from the committee appointed by the apex court.

    Shetkari Sanghatana (Maharashtra) president Anil Ghanwat and agriculture economists Pramod Kumar Joshi and Ashok Gulati, the other three members on the panel, started the consultation process with stakeholders on Thursday.

  • Earlier expression of view does not mean that person cannot be appointed in committee: SC on farm laws panel

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: An earlier expression of view does not mean that a person cannot be appointed in a particular committee on that issue as the opinion can also change, observed the Supreme Court on Tuesday.

    The remarks of the apex court, which also said there is a “peculiar lack of comprehension” about the constitution of a panel, assumes importance as some of the members of the recently constituted committee to resolve the deadlock between farmers and the centre over the farm laws had earlier reportedly expressed their views on the subject.

    One of the members, Bhupinder Singh Mann, National President of the Bhartiya Kisan Union, had last week said he was recusing himself from the four-member committee.

    However, a bench headed by chief justice S A Bobde, which was hearing another matter, said “A committee is appointed and if the person has expressed his views earlier on the issue, then it does not mean that the person cannot be in the committee.”

    “There is a very peculiar lack of comprehension about the constitution of a committee,” said the bench, also comprising Justices L Nageswara Rao and Vineet Saran, which was hearing a matter relating to inadequacies and deficiencies in criminal trials.

    The bench observed that one person may have a view on the issue before being part of the committee but that opinion can change.

    In an “extraordinary” interim order on January 12, the apex court had stayed the implementation of the new farm laws till further orders and constituted a four-member panel to listen to the grievances and make recommendations to resolve the impasse.

    The committee comprises of Bhupinder Singh Mann, National President of Bhartiya Kisan Union, All India Kisan Coordination Committee; Parmod Kumar Joshi, Director for South Asia, International Food Policy Research Institute; Ashok Gulati, agricultural economist and former chairman of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices, and Anil Ghanwat, President of Shetkari Sanghatana.

    Thousands of farmers, mainly from Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh, are protesting at various border points of Delhi for over a month now against the three laws — the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, and the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act.

    Enacted in September 2020, the government has presented these laws as major farm reforms aimed at increasing farmers’ income, but the protesting farmers have raised concerns that these legislations would weaken the minimum support price (MSP) and “mandi” (wholesale market) systems and leave them at the mercy of big corporations.

    The government has maintained that these apprehensions are misplaced and has ruled out a repeal of the laws.

  • Farm laws: SC-appointed panel to hold first meeting on Tuesday, Centre says both sides want early end to impasse

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court-appointed committee on the three new farm laws is scheduled to hold its first meeting with members on Tuesday at Pusa campus here, its member Anil Ghanwat said.

    “We are going to meet tomorrow. Only members will meet to discuss the terms of reference and decide the future course of action,” Ghanwat, president of Shetkari Sanghatana (Maharashtra), told PTI before boarding a flight to Delhi.

    The Supreme Court had on January 11 stayed the implementation of the three laws, against which farmers are protesting at Delhi borders for over 50 days now, till further orders and appointed a four-member panel to resolve the impasse.

    Bhartiya Kisan Union President Bhupinder Singh Mann, however, recused himself from the committee last week.

    Apart from Ghanwat, agri-economists Ashok Gulati and Pramod Kumar Joshi are the other members of the panel.

    The panel will hear views of farmers across the country, both who support and oppose the new farm laws, and submit a report within two months to the apex court.

    Meanwhile, the Centre on Monday said both sides want to resolve the long-continuing stalemate at the earliest but it was getting delayed due to involvement of people of other ideologies.

    Asserting that the new farm laws are in the interest of the farming community, the government said obstacles do come whenever good things or measures are taken and it is taking longer to resolve the issue as farmers’ leaders want a solution their own way.

    The tenth round of talks between the Centre and 41 protesting farmers’ unions is scheduled for Tuesday at 12 noon at Vigyan Bhawan in the heart of the national capital.

    Separately, a Supreme Court-appointed panel to resolve the crisis is also scheduled to hold its first meeting on Tuesday.

    The previous rounds of talks between the government and farmers have failed to reach any concrete results, as protesting unions have stuck to their main demand for repealing the new laws, but the government has refused to do so.

    ALSO READ | CM tears copies of farm laws as Puducherry Assembly adopts resolution seeking their repeal

    Speaking to PTI, Minister of State for Agriculture Parshottam Rupala said: “It is different when farmers talk to us directly. When leaders get involved, then it becomes difficult. There could have been early solution had the discussions were held with farmers directly.”

    Since people of different ideologies have entered into the protest, they want a solution in their own way, he said.

    “Both sides want a solution, but they have different points of view and hence it is taking more time. But a definite solution will emerge,” he noted.

    Thousands of farmers, especially from Punjab, Haryana and parts of Uttar Pradesh, are protesting for nearly two-months at various Delhi borders against the three farm laws enacted by the central government in September 2020.

    Separately, Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, while addressing a virtual event, reiterated that the three farm laws will be beneficial for farmers.

    “These laws were expected earlier but the previous government could not implement because of pressure. It was the Modi government that took a bold step and brought these laws passed in Parliament Whenever a good thing happens, there are obstacles,” Tomar said.

    ALSO READ | Stir against agri laws: Women take over the reins on Monday to mark ‘Women Farmers’ Day’

    On eve of the tenth round of meeting, a delegation of farmers representing over 270 farmer producer organizations from Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh and Odisha met Rupala and appealed not to repeal the laws.

    Minister of State for Agriculture Kailash Choudhury was also present in the meeting.

    “We support the new laws. We don’t want the government to repeal them,” Narendra Tomar of Gwalior-based Chambal Agro FPO said after the meeting.