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The Centre on Monday night invited agitating farmer unions for talks on December 1, two days ahead of a scheduled meeting, as their stir against the new agri-marketing laws appeared to intensify despite a strong defence of the legislation by the government and Prime Minister Narendra Modi who accused the opposition of 'playing tricks' on farmers again through misinformation.
The development came a day after the protesting farmers rejected the Centre's offer to start talks as soon as they move to Burari and continued to stay put Singhu and Tikri borders of the national capital.
"Keeping in view the cold and COVID-19, we have invited leaders of farmer unions for discussion much before the scheduled December 3 meeting," Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar told PTI and urged the farmers to end their stir.
Addressing a press conference on Monday, representatives of agitating farmers said on Monday they have come to Delhi for a 'decisive' battle and asked Prime Minister Modi to listen to their 'mann ki baat'.
Peaceful sit-ins by farmers, mostly from Punjab and Haryana, continued for the fifth day at the Singhu and Tikri borders with no untoward incident reported after Friday's violence, while the numbers of protestors swelled at the Ghazipur border.
"Our demands are non-negotiable," Jagmohan Singh, general secretary Bhartiya Kisan Union (Dakaunda), said addressing a press conference by representatives of farmers at Singhu border.
"We have come here to fight a decisive battle. We have come to Delhi to ask the prime minister to listen to 'mann ki baat' of farmers, else the government and the ruling party will have to pay a heavy price...," he said.
The opposition parties too stepped up pressure, asking the Centre to 'respect the democratic struggle' of the farmers and repeal the laws.
Security was beefed up by the Delhi Police and concrete barriers placed at all borders points connecting the city with Haryana and Uttar Pradesh as the farmers threatened to block all highways to the national capital.
Long queues of vehicles choked the roads as the Delhi Police kept the Singhu and Tikri borders closed and heightened checking at others.
Amid the rancour of protests, farmers were seen performing 'Ardas' (prayer) at the Haryana-Delhi border and distributing 'karah parshad' among the people on Guru Nanak Jayanti.
At dusk, earthen lamps were placed on the barricades by the protesting farmers who exchanged sweets while preparing for another winter night in their tractor-trollys which have been turned into makeshift shelters.
Many protesters said that they have come prepared for a long haul with rations and other necessities.
During the day several union ministers and BJP leaders again urged the farmers not to have 'misconceptions' about these reforms which, they asserted, have nothing to do with the mechanism of minimum support price (MSP) and 'mandi' that will continue along with the government's purchase of grains.
The prime minister, who was visiting his Lok Sabha constituency Varanasi, too allayed concerns that MSP and mandi mechanism would be discontinued, even as he attacked the opposition.
"The farmers are being deceived on these historic agriculture reform laws by the same people who have misled them for decades," he said, in an apparent reference to parties that are supporting the protest.
He reiterated that farmers who wanted to follow the old system of trading -- referring to the 'mandis' where they can get the MSP -- are still free to do so. But the three laws gave them new options to sell for more, he said.
He said whenever new laws are enacted questions are bound to be asked.
"But presently a new trend is being seen in the country. The protests are based on creating doubts through misinformation," Modi said at a public gathering.
"We must remember that those doing so are the ones who had for decades deceived farmers," he claimed.
The MSP used to be declared but very little procurement was done on it, he claimed.
"Farmers have faced deceit on MSP, loan waiver schemes, urea and productivity for a long time in the past," he said.
He claimed that it is because of this 'long history of deceit' that farmers are again wary as they are seeing the new move in the same manner.
Though the protesting farmers have been adamant about not allowing any political party to use their platform, the opposition has come out in their support.
The Congress launched a social media campaign to muster support for the farmers and said its members will extend assistance to the protesters, while the DMK and its allies too issued a statement slamming the government's stand.
'The Modi government has persecuted the farmer -- first it brought black laws and then used lathis against them, but it forgot that when the farmer raises his voice, it resonates throughout the country.
'You also raise your voice against the exploitation of farmers and join the #SpeakUpForFarmers campaign,' Rahul Gandhi said in a tweet in Hindi.
A joint statement was issued by Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam president M K Stalin, Tamil Nadu Congress Committee chief K S Alagiri, Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam general secretary Vaiko, Communist Party of India-Marxist state secretary K Balakrishnan, Communist Party of India state secretary R Mutharasan and others slamming the Centre's stand.
'More than 500 farmer unions from across India have rallied on behalf of the country's 62 million farmers. We all strongly condemn the dictatorial, hegemonic BJP government for disregarding this massive rally and stipulating that negotiations will only take place only if the farmers go to the Burari ground,' it said.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal appealed to the people of Delhi to help the protesters and urged the Centre to hold talks with them at the earliest.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, whose Janata Dal-United is a constituent of the BJP-led, expressed the hope that the Centre will be able to allay the fears about MSP in its dialogue with the farmers.
"The Centre has proposed to hold talks with the agitating farmers. Once they sit across the table, it will become clear that fears over MSP are unfounded," he told reporters.
Nagaur (Rajasthan) MP Hanuman Beniwal, an alliance partner of National Democratic Alliance, said he will have to reconsider his party's support to the Centre if the new agricultural reform laws are not withdrawn.
Beniwal, the convener of Rashtriya Loktantrik Party, appealed to Union Home Minister Amit Shah to withdraw the three farm laws immediately and implement all the recommendations made by the Swaminathan Commission.
Farmers, who had reached the Nirankari Samagam Ground in Burari on Saturday, also continued their protest.
Sukhwinder Singh, who has been agitating at the Tikri border for the fifth consecutive day, said farmers don't want to go to Burari ground -- the designated protest site identified for the demonstration.
"We have enough ration to sustain for at least six months. We do not wish to go to Burari. If we proceed from here, we will only go to Jantar Mantar. We will not protest anywhere else," Singh said.
Tractor-trolleys have occupied over a 10-km-long stretch along the Ambala-Delhi national highway.
Many protesters have cushioned their trolleys with layers of straw and laid mattresses over them to protect them from the cold. Night temperatures over the last few days have been settling at around 9 degrees Celsius.
Among the protesters are men and women aged over 70 years.
Flags of various farmers' outfits from Punjab and Haryana can be seen fluttering atop the tractors, some of which are fitted with loudspeakers and used by the leaders of peasants' bodies to address the gatherings.
Having gathered here in thousands amid the coronavirus pandemic, the farmers claim adverse conditions do not affect them as they are used to various challenges anyway while working in the fields.
Experts warn their agitation could well be a COVID-19 superspreader as there have been few signs of social distancing during the protests that started last week with the farmers, banded under various organisations, leaving their homes and moving towards Delhi.
"A protest is a mass gathering and thus from a public health perspective, I would urge protective and preventive behaviour against the spread of coronavirus infection, failing which a superspreading event might set in," cautioned Dr Samiran Panda, head of the Epidemiology and Communicable Diseases division at the Indian Council of Medical Research.
The farmers are protesting against the three laws -- Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020; Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020 and The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act 2020 -- that took effect from September 27 after President Ram Nath Kovind's assent.
The farmers have expressed apprehension that the Centre's farm laws would pave the way for the dismantling of the minimum support price system, leaving them at the 'mercy' of big corporates.
The government has maintained that the new laws will bring farmers better opportunities and usher in new technologies in agriculture.
In a series of tweets in Hindi, BJP leader and Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad sought to refute criticism of these bills.
"New agri laws do not end APMC (Agricultural Produce Market Committee) mandis. Mandis will continue to operate as they have been. New laws have given farmers the freedom to sell their produce anywhere.
"Whoever gives farmers the best price will get to buy their produce be it inside the mandis or outside," he said.
Many misconceptions like the farm bills are a conspiracy to not offer farmers MSP, are being spread, he said, adding that the reality is that these legislations have nothing to do with the minimum support price.
"The MSP has been in force and will remain in force," he said.
Another senior BJP leader and Union minister Prakash Javadekar said, "Don't have misconceptions about the farm laws. Farmers of Punjab have sold more paddy in mandi than they did last year and at a higher MSP.
"MSP is alive and so is mandi. And government purchase is also taking place."