Eight days of widespread protest in the eye of national media and three rounds of negotiations later, the central government has not been able to pacify the protesting farmers stationed majorly at Delhi borders with Haryana. The fourth round of talks between representatives of farmers and the central government will be held Thursday afternoon.
Soon after their talks on Wednesday, leaders of the protesting farmers wrote a letter to union agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar and urged the government to not “indulge in divisive agenda” to break farmers’ unity. “We ask the government not to indulge in any divisive agendas with regard to the farmers’ movement which is united in its demands at this point of time. This was clear from the meeting proceedings yesterday (Tuesday),” an Indian Express report quoted Samyukt Kisan Morcha Coordination Committee from the letter.
All India Motor Transport Congress (AIMTC), representing about 95 lakh truckers and other entities — extended its support to the farmers and threatened to halt operations in northern India from December 8 if the government fails to address concerns of the farming community.
While Haryana agriculture minister JP Dalal said that “many foreign powers like China and Pakistan want to destabilise country in the name of farmers”, Delhi BJP MP Manoj Tiwari claimed that the so-called “tukde tukde gang” was trying to turn the farmers’ stir at the national capital’s borders into a Shaheen Bagh-like protest. Shaheen Bagh in South Delhi was the hub ofthe agitation against the citizenship amendment act earlier this year, before the COVID-19 pandemic struck.