New Delhi, January 8: The eighth round of talks between protesting farmers and the Centre ended inconclusively yet again with Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar making it clear that the government will not repeal the Acts and ‘jathebandis’ stating that they are willing to settle for nothing less.
The next round has been proposed on January 15 with the government hoping for some resolution at the January 11 Supreme Court hearing on a batch of pleas challenging the constitutional validity of the three agricultural laws.
This also means the farmers will be celebrating the festival of Lohri at borders of Delhi.
Hardening their stance, unions have also made it clear that “whatever the courts might order they are not going to budge until they secure repeal of the laws and discussion on MSP moves further”.
They have already given a deadline of January 26, the day when they “march into Delhi”. “It is best to leave this to the Supreme Court to decide,” Kavitha Kuruganti of the Mahila Kisan Adikar Manch said quoting Tomar at the meeting, terming today’s proceedings as a “complete breakdown of talks”.
