UHM Amit Shah called farmers’ leaders last night to discuss the remaining issues following the success of their year-long campaign.
The farmers on Saturday announced a five-member panel to hold talks with the government. For now, the farmers will continue the protest over their demands like widening the Minimum Support Price or MSP program that guarantees prices for certain crops and dropping cases filed against protesters over the last year.
“Amit Shah called last night. He said the laws have been rolled back and the government is serious about finding a solution to the ongoing stir. The Home Minister wanted a committee to communicate with the government, so we finally have made that committee now,” Yudhvir Singh, a leader of one of the farmers’ unions told NDTV.
“The result of the meeting between the government and the committee will be discussed on December 7th, and if a compromise is found, then there is a possibility of farmers going back from borders,” he said.
The decisions were taken at a meeting organized by the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) – the umbrella body of farmers’ organizations – held at the Singhu border near Delhi to decide on the future of the agitation and discussed vacating the protest sites.
Farmer leaders Balbir Singh Rajewal, Ashok Dhawle, Shiv Kumar Kakka, Gurnam Singh Chaduni and Yudhvir Singh were named in the five-member panel.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government had passed a bill in parliament to repeal the three contentious farm laws on Monday, more than a year after thousands of farmers from several states launched a massive campaign against them and camped on the borders of Delhi.
However, the farmers, however, have stated that they will not call off the protests and work to hurt the BJP in key state elections early year till other demands like the one on MSP, compensation to families of farmers who died during the movement, and action against a Union Minister Ajay Mishra whose son has been accused of mowing down a group of protesters in Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur Kheri are met.