Defence Minister Rajnath Singh At Forefront On Talks With Farmers Today.

Center calls for farmers meeting today, Rajnath Singh leads the talks

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will be holding talks today with the farmers who are protesting since last week. This morning Home Minister Amit Shah, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh met at BJP chief JP Nadda’s Delhi residence before going for talks with the farmers. In less than 48 hours this is the second meeting between the top BJP leaders after the massive protest by the farmers’ against the center's three farm laws. The Border Raising Day event which the Home Minister was supposed to attend today was cancelled this morning.

Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar on Monday called the farmers for early talks ahead of the scheduled date mentioning the cold and Coronavirus. Out of the 500 farmer organizations the center has invited only 32 farm organizations which have not gone down well with the protesting farmers and they have now decided not to hold the meeting with the union minister if all of them are not invited by the Central Government.

The two month old long planned protest has a support of over 3 lakh farmers so on Sunday the farmers decided to block five entry points towards the national capital. The Delhi police requested all commuters to take alternate routes as the Singhu border and Tikri borders remain shut.

The Haryana’s Khap Panchayat with unanimous consent will proceed towards Delhi and take part in the farmers protest. The Khap Pradhan and MLA of Dadri Sombir Sangwan said “We request the center to reconsider the farm laws. Everyone has the right to express themselves". 

The opposition and the farmers allege that the new farm laws that is aimed at bringing alteration by doing away with the middlemen and improving the earnings of the farmers’ by allowing them to sell their produce anywhere in the country will not only deprive the farmers of the guaranteed minimum price for their produce but will also leave them at the mercy of the corporates.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his radio address in ‘Maan Ki Baat’ on Sunday said the center’s new laws have ‘opened new opportunities’ for the farmers. On Monday PM Modi again defended the farm reforms where he said “New laws don’t stop the old system. If someone thinks an earlier system is better. How is this law stopping anyone?” The new laws will not mean an end to the traditional mandis and minimum support prices fixed by the government assured the Prime Minister.