Urging Modi to clarify why govt not ready for talks, say farmer leaders

Chandigarh, Feb 13 (IANS) Urging Prime Minister Narendra Modi to clarify why the government is not ready for a discussion with protesting farmers, Punjab Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee General Secretary Sarwan Singh Pandher said on Tuesday that “it seems Punjab and Haryana are not parts of India anymore”.

“We want to tell the people of India that we tried to find a solution so that we do not have to stand against the government,” he told the media.

On Farmers’ ‘Delhi Chalo’ protest march, he said in the five-hour-long meeting on Monday, “we put forward the situation of Haryana”.

“They are sending police and using water cannons in each and every village of Haryana. They are torturing farmers in Haryana. It seems that both these states are not a part of India anymore, they are being treated as international border,” Pandher said in Punjab’s Fatehgarh Sahib ahead of moving towards the national capital.

After the second round of talks between farmers’ unions and the Centre remained inconclusive, the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to clarify why his government is not ready for a discussion with farmers and farm labourers in the context of the Gramin Bharat Bandh call on February 16.

Clarifying his farm outfit stand on the ongoing protest, another farmer leader Darshan Pal said, “We didn’t give the ‘Dilli Chalo’ call. However, organisations other than SKM have the right to protest and it is the responsibility of the Union government to treat such protests in a democratic manner instead of adhering to excessive state repression.”