Farmers' mega stir plan if talks with Centre on January 4 remains inconclusive

Upping the ante ahead of the next round of talks, farmer unions on Friday warned that they will start shutting all malls and petrol pumps in Haryana if the government fails to resolve their main demands for the repeal of three new farm laws and a legal guarantee for MSP in the January 4 meeting. Addressing a press conference at the Singhu border protest site, representatives of farmer unions said that only five per cent of the issues raised by them have so far been discussed in meetings with the government.

They outlined multiple protest actions over a month if their main demands are not met, in an announcement a few days before Republic Day celebrations. Farmer leader Yudhveer Singh said if the central government thinks the farmers'' protest will go the Shaheen Bagh way, then it is mistaken. "They (government) cannot make us leave this place like they did in Shaheen Bagh," he said.

Hundreds of protesters had camped at Shaheen Bagh for several months against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and later, the site was cleared by the Delhi Police following the coronavirus-induced lockdown in March last year.

At the press conference, farmer leaders made it clear that they will have to take firm steps if the government does not take a decision in their favour in the January 4 meeting. Swaraj India leader Yogendra Yadav said that the government has not moved an inch on the two main issues -- repeal of three agri laws and legal guarantee for minimum support price (MSP).