Informal talks on with the farmers, hopeful to reach solution soon : Tomar

Government says  it is having informal talks with the stakeholders  for resolving the farmers’ agitation against three new farm laws before the new year.

Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar has said government has an open mind to discuss the law clause  by clause and allay the farmers’ apprehensions. However, some unions remain adamant on their repeal. Tomar said the Narendra Modi government is committed to addressing all genuine concerns of the farming community and it is willing to resume formal talks anytime, but asserted that there was no point talking to those “shooting from peasants’ shoulders”.

 He blamed opposition parties for misleading the farmers and accused them of changing their stance on the reform process and politicise the movement. Thousands of farmers, especially from Punjab and Haryana, have been protesting at Delhi’s borders for more than three weeks. Five rounds of formal talks have been held between the three Union Ministers and 40 farmer unions to break the deadlock, but the unions are demanding complete rollback of the Central laws. “We have constantly been holding discussions with farmers’ unions… Overall, our effort is to reach a solution through dialogue with them. We are still open for talks. We are holding discussions with unions. I hope through dialogue we can move towards reaching a solution,” Tomar said, replying to a query about the stalemate and way forward.