Amit Shah & Farmers’ Meet Inconclusive, No Talks With Govt Today

An official spokesperson said that the Centre cancelled Wednesday’s talks after farm leaders declined to attend.

File Image of Amit Shah.

(Photo: PTI)

Union Home Minister Amit Shah's meeting with protesting farmers is said to have ended inconclusively on Tuesday, 8 December, with the sixth round of talks scheduled for Wednesday with the Centre cancelled.

PTI reported on Wednesday that an official spokesperson had said that the government had cancelled the round of talks after farm leaders declined to attend.

Rakesh Tikait, spokesperson of Bharatiya Kisan Union on Wednesday, said that sixth round of talks have been cancelled and that the farmers would hold a meeting over the draft proposal that is supposed to be sent by the Centre.

No Meeting to Be Held: Farmers

"No meeting will be held between farmers and the government tomorrow. The minister has said that a proposal will be given to the farmer leaders tomorrow. Farmer leaders will hold a meeting over the government's proposal," All India Kisan Sabha General Secretary Hannan Mollah was quoted as saying by news agency ANI late on Tuesday.

“The government is not ready to take back the farm laws... Tomorrow, we will hold a meeting at Singhu border at 12 pm.”

Hannan Mollah, General Secretary, All India Kisan Sabha, as quoted by ANI

While the farm leaders have called for a complete withdrawal of the three contentious recently passed laws, the Centre has till now indicated its willingness to only amend parts of the law.

According to reports, 13 farmer union leaders met Shah on Tuesday, with the venue of the meeting having been shifted to the Pusa agricultural institute campus.

The meeting came as farmers' protest over the three laws gathered steam on Day 13, with agitators taking to the streets to mark ‘Bharat Bandh’. Protests were held across across the country, with the epicentre being Delhi-NCR, where thousands of farmers have been camping near the borders for the last couple of days.

‘No Midway, Will Demand Just ‘Yes’ or ‘No’’

Earlier on Tuesday, Punjab Kisan Union's RS Mansa had said there was no midway and that they will demand just 'yes' or 'no' from the home minister at the meeting.

In a press conference, farm leaders had demanded they be allowed to protest at the Ramlila Ground in Delhi, saying that they don’t want to cause any inconvenience to people from Delhi and Haryana.

“We do not want to cause any inconvenience to anyone from Delhi or Haryana, we should be allowed to hold protest at Ramlila Ground,” Mansa was quoted as saying at the Singhu border between Delhi and Haryana.

Calling the ‘Bharat Bandh’ successful, farm leader Gurnam Singh Chadhuni said the government now knows that they don’t have a way out.