After the violent clashes broke between protesters and Police officials in Delhi on Republic day, the farm unions are on the backfoot and the government now wants to resume talks only if its offers are accepted by the farmers groups, reports said. There have been informal talks going on with the farm unions.
There have been informal talks with farm union leaders, with the government’s representatives flagging the differences among them.
The government has got the upper hand in the negotiation table now. Government is now pointing out that farm union leaders who have been engaging in talks with the centre have lost control over the agitators, and that they have lost moral authority due to the violence in the national capital on Republic day. After two months of peaceful protests on Delhi’s borders and 11 rounds of negotiations with the central government, the Republic Day tractor parade turned violent on Tuesday. They should use this opportunity as a graceful exit and agree to the offers the government has made, a government official reported.
The government has already given farmer leaders a better proposal, but they did not accept it. They lost a good opportunity. Now, the government has to see whether they accept that offer or they come with a counter proposal, he said.
While farmers have stuck to their demand for repeal of the laws, the government, on January 20 agreed that it could suspend the three laws for 18 months and set up a joint committee to discuss the laws in detail. The farmers rejected that offer and decided to continue the protests.
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Meanwhile, a day after clashes broke out between protesting farmers and the police officials, a rift within the farmers’ groups surfaced as Rashtriya Kisan Mazdoor Sangathan and a faction of Bharatiya Kisan Union, BKU (Bhanu) pulled out of the protest against the Centre’s three contentious farm legislations. Over 300 police personnel were injured in Tuesday’s violence.