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bbcbreakingnews · 4 years ago

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Protesting farmers brave rains ahead of talks with Centre: Top developments

NEW DELHI: As Delhi and surrounding areas experienced heavy rains since Saturday, the farmers protesting against the three central farm laws braved the inclement weather on Sunday to stay put at the national capital’s borders. While the seventh round of talks between the 41 farmers’ unions and the government is scheduled for Monday, the protestors have threatened to organise a tractor rally on Republic Day. Here are the top highlights of the day: 1. The farmers at Delhi borders had a difficult morning due to overnight rains which caused waterlogging tents, soaked firewood and blankets, and cold conditions. The continuous downpour led to waterlogging at agitation venues and waterproof tents did not help much, according to protesters. Farmer leader Abhimanyu Kohar, who is a member of the Sankyukt Kisan Morcha, said farmers have waterproof tents but they cannot protect them from biting cold and waterlogging. “The situation is very bad at protest sites due to rain which has caused waterlogging. There is so much cold after the rains, but the government is not able to see our misery,” he said. Gurwinder Singh, who is camping at the Singhu Border, said there is waterlogging at some places as civic facilities are not up to the mark but asserted that the weather will not dampen the spirit of farmers who have been protesting for over a month. “Despite facing several problems, we will not move from here until our demands are met,” he said. According to a MeT Department official, heavy rainfall was reported in areas across Delhi and minimum temperatures have increased due to clouding and easterly winds. 2. Hundreds of farmers from various regions of Maharashtra, joined by students and people from various walks of life left for Delhi from Nagpur to join cultivators who have been protesting at the borders of the national capital for over a month seeking the repeal of three agri laws, a Kisan Sabha leader said. He said widows of those farmers who had committed suicide over farm debt and related issues from east Maharashtra and Marathwada regions, have also joined this “Chalo Delhi” vehicle march. Earlier in the day, students, youngsters and people from various walks of life hailing from Kolhapur, Sangli, Satara, Nashik, Aurangabad, Ahmed Nagar and other districts gathered in Nagpur under the aegis of ‘Maharashtra Rajya Kisan Sabha’. They took out a march in the afternoon and a meeting was held at Sanvidhan chowk in evening. “These farmers and others have left for Delhi in 40-odd vehicles, including buses and four-wheelers,” Nagpur district secretary of Kisan Sabha, Arun Wankar, said. He said about 800 members of the Maharashtra Rajya Kisan Sabha are also going to Delhi to join the protesting farmers. “We want to support the farmers who are protesting in a peaceful manner against the three anti-farmer laws which were passed in a dictatorial manner by the Central government,” Wankar said. 3. The seventh round of talks between the farmers’ unions and the centre is scheduled for Monday. After the sixth round of formal negotiations on December 30, the government and farm unions reached some common ground to resolve protesting farmers’ concerns over rise in power tariff and penalties for stubble burning, but the two sides remained deadlocked over the main contentious issues of the repeal of three farm laws and a legal guarantee for minimum support price (MSP). Braving the cold, thousands of farmers, mainly from Punjab and Haryana, are protesting at various borders of the national capital for more than a month against these laws. The government has presented these laws as major agriculture sector reforms aimed at helping farmers and increasing their income, but the protesting unions fear that the new legislations will leave them at the mercy of big corporates by weakening the MSP and mandi systems. 4. In a scathing attack on the Centre over the farmers’ protests, congress interim president Sonia Gandhi said that for the first time since independence such an “arrogant” government had come to power that could not see the sufferings of ‘annadatas’, and demanded that the new farm laws be immediately withdrawn unconditionally. In a statement in Hindi, she said governments and their leaders who ignored public sentiments in a democracy could not govern for long and it is now quite clear that the protesting farmers would not bow in the face of the centre’s policy of “tire and pushover”. “There is still time, the Modi government should leave the arrogance of power and immediately withdraw the three black laws unconditionally to end the agitation of the farmers who are dying in the cold and rain. This is Rajdharma and a true tribute to the farmers who have lost their lives,” she said and added that the Modi government should remember that democracy meant protecting the interests of the people and the farmers-workers. “Along with the people of the country, I am also disturbed seeing the condition of the ‘annadatas’ who have been agitating for 39 days at the borders of Delhi in the bitter cold and rain in support of their demands,” Gandhi said. The Congress has been seeking the repeal of the three new farm laws, alleging that they would ruin farming and the farmers. Congress is also supporting the farmers’ agitation against the legislation. 5. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi compared the ongoing farmers’ protests against the three new central agriculture-related laws with the Champaran agitation during the British rule, and said every farmer-labourer part of the current movement is a ‘satyagrahi’ and they will take their rights back. “The country is going to face a Champaran-like tragedy. British were ‘company Bahadur’ back then and now Modi-friends are ‘company Bahadur’,” Gandhi alleged in a tweet in Hindi. “But, every farmer-labourer of the movement is a ‘satyagrahi’ who will take back their rights,” the former Congress chief said. The Champaran Satyagraha of 1917 was led by Mahatma Gandhi and is considered a historic event in India’s independence movement. It was a farmer’s uprising that took place in Champaran district of Bihar during the British colonial period when the farmers protested having to grow indigo with barely any payment for it.

source https://bbcbreakingnews.com/2021/01/03/protesting-farmers-brave-rains-ahead-of-talks-with-centre-top-developments/

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