Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Tomar Singh has informed that the Centre is still open for discussions concerning the three contentious farm laws.
“The Indian government is committed to double farmers’ incomes and work towards their welfare. The government has been holding discussions with farmers sympathetically. If the farmers have a point to raise even, we are ready to discuss it now,” Tomar said on Wednesday.
Tomar made the statement a day after Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rakesh Tikait warned that if the Centre does not repeal the three farm laws, then the protesting farmers will gherao the Parliament.
During a Mahapanchayat in Rajasthan on Tuesday, Tikait said that farmers on 40 lakh tractors would head towards the Parliament. “This time it will be parliament gherao. We will announce the march and then head towards Delhi. This time it will be 40 lakh tractors instead of four lakh tractors,” Tikait said, adding that the protesting farmers would dig up the parks near India Gate and would grow crops there.
The last time the farmer leaders called for a march was on Republic Day. The R-Day march in New Delhi resulted in vandalism, the death of a protesting farmer and nearly 300 Delhi policemen were left injured. The Delhi Police made several arrests. Things turned confrontational between the Delhi Police and the farmers.
Since the Republic Day violence, no talks were held between the central government and the farmers union. Thousands of farmers from Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and other states have been agitating at Delhi borders demanding the repealing of the three laws since November last year.
