According to various media reports, the meeting between the farmer unions on Thursday was a long discussion and there were difficulties to reach a consensus.
On Thursday, farmer unions rejected the Central government’s offer to suspend the three controversial farm laws for 18 months and form a joint committee to address the grievances. The farmers stood adamant on their demand for a repeal of the laws.
In a statement released, the farmer unions said: “In a full general body meeting of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha, the proposal put forth by the government was rejected. A full repeal of the three central farm acts and enacting legislation for remunerative MSP for all farmers were reiterated as pending demands of the movement.” Samyukt Kisan Morcha is an umbrella body of organizations spearheading the farmers protest.
During the tenth round of discussion on Wednesday, the government offered to stay the farm’s laws, continue the discussions with the farmer unions, and urged them to withdraw the agitations. The representatives of the unions will convey their decision to the government in the 11th round of discussions scheduled on Friday.
According to various media reports, the meeting between the unions on Thursday was a long discussion and there were difficulties to reach a consensus. Several groups were open to the idea to suspend the farm laws but the majority vote carried the decision to reject the offer.
The unions have also stated that the protests will continue. As we have reported earlier, in a meeting with Delhi Police on Thursday farmers were requested to not hold the tractor rally on Republic Day, but the farmers refused.
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