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Ahead of the talks with representatives of the protesting farmers over the controversial farm laws later Saturday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi called a meeting of senior Ministers and BJP President J P Nadda.
The meeting, being attended by Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, assumes significance because the farmers have given an ultimatum that this round of talks – the fifth if the earlier discussions with Punjab farmers in October and November are counted in – would be the final one.
The leaders of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha, consisting of around 500 farmer organisations, have already rejected the high-level ministerial committee’s offer to make suitable amendments in the Acts. They described them as piecemeal and they have problems with the intent behind the pieces of legislation, which they call ‘pro-corporate’.
In an indication that they plan to intensify the agitation, the farmer organisations have called for a nationwide hartal on December 8 besides urging farmers in States around Delhi to join the agitation in massive numbers.
About three lakh farmers are already protesting at the key entry points to the national capital demanding not just the scrapping of the farm laws passed by Parliament in September, but also the withdrawal of the contentious Electricity Amendment Bill 2020.
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