Farmers urge Centre to create conducive environment for talks

Responding to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s statement that the Centre is just a call away, the protesting farmers’ organisations urged the Centre to create a conducive atmosphere by withdrawing FIRs and heavy police presence at the protest venues.

A meeting of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha decided that there can be no formal talks with the government until police and administration harassment of different kinds against the farmers’ movement is immediately stopped.

Multiple harassments

The All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee, in a separate press conference, said if Modi is truthful to his stand, he should ask the BJP governments in Haryana and Uttar Pradesh to stop troubling farmers.

Also read: Govt’s offer on farm laws still stands, says PM

The SKM said measures such as “increased barricading including trench-digging, fixing nails on the roads, barbed wire fencing, closing off of even internal roads, stopping of internet services, orchestrating protests and facilitating the same through BJP-RSS workers, diversion of trains and stopping them before destination stations etc”, are all part of multiple attacks being organised by the Centre against the protesting farmers.

SKM leader Darshan Pal said scores of people are reported to be missing, and to ensure that more people do not join the protests the BJP is projecting images of violence and the real criminal elements go scot-free without any arrests. “Though no formal proposal for talks came from the government, we clearly state that the talks will be held only after the unconditional release of farmers who are in police custody illegally. Today Delhi Police has released the list of 122 agitators who were taken into police custody. We demand their immediate release. We also condemn the attacks and arrests on journalists who are continuously covering the movement,” he said.

Also read: Farm protest gathers political momentum

AIKSCC leader Atul Kumar Anjan said Modi should not limit the offer in rhetoric. “If the roads are blocked, if the phones are jammed, how can we respond to his offer for a call? The Prime Minister’s statements should be responsible and we believe that it is his duty to create a conducive atmosphere for dialogue,” Anjan said.

‘Conducive atmosphere’

The farmers have also decided to support the one-day strike called by electricity workers on Wednesday. The trade unions have also issued a statement demanding the Centre to stop suppressing the agitations.

They have also decided to block the roads on February 6 between 11 am and 3pm all over the country. “Along with the frequent internet shutdown, we strongly condemn the government attempting to shut down many Twitter accounts related to the farmer movement. Withholding of these accounts, which are running with the aim of dealing with the propaganda of the government and giving real information to the public, is a direct attack on democracy,” Pal said.

COMMENT NOW