‘Shift Protests If You Want To Talk Before 3 Dec’: Shah To Farmers

The Union Home Minister said, “The government is ready to deliberate on every problem and demand of the farmers.”

File Image of Amit Shah.

(Photo: PTI)

As farmers from Punjab and Haryana camp at the Nirankari Samagam Ground in Delhi’s Burari to protest against the Centre’s farm laws, Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday, 27 November, said, “The government is ready to deliberate on every problem and demand of the farmers.”

He added, “If farmers’ unions want to hold discussions before 3 December, then I want to assure you all that as soon as you shift your protest to the designated place, the government will hold talks to address your concerns the very next day.”

Reacting to Shah’s proposal, Bharatiya Kisan Union’s Punjab President, Jagjit Singh, told ANI that the Home Minister should have agreed for a meeting without any conditions, adding that the farmers’ will now decide on their response.

“Amit Shah ji has called for early meeting on a condition, it’s not good. He should’ve offered talks with open heart without condition. We’ll hold meeting to decide our response.”

Jagjit Singh, Bharatiya Kisan Union’s Punjab President

The protesting farmers had earlier told the media that the protests will continue till the laws aren’t withdrawn by the Centre.

After a day-long confrontation with the police, the Centre had allowed the farmers to enter Delhi and designated Nirankari ground in Burari to hold the protests.

A section of Delhi-bound farmers who had gone to the Nirankari ground in north Delhi's Burari later returned, saying that "it is a strategy to confine us". Some opposition parties including NCP's Sharad Pawar, DMK's TR Baalu and CPI-M's Sitaram Yechury has issued a statement regarding the ‘Delhi Chalo’ farmer protest, demanding a larger ground for the protests.

"The ground is too small for tens of thousands that have reached Delhi," it reads.