As the year-long standoff between farmers and the government is set to end in Shambhu and Khanauri on the Punjab-Haryana border over the weekend, the BJP has finally managed to stop them before the protests escalate.
In February 2023, the Union government proposed an agreement to buy six crops at the minimum support price (MSP) for five years – cotton, maize, and pulses such as arhar, masoor, and urad – but the protesters rejected it saying it was Punjab-centric. After February 18, 2023, when the last of the four rounds of negotiations was held, the dialogue between the two sides broke down. However, that started to change as Samyukta Kisan Morcha-Non-Political (SKM-NP) convener Jagjit Singh Dallewal began his “indefinite” hunger strike.
On Saturday, after 54 days, he agreed to receive treatment after joint secretary of Agriculture Department Priya Ranjan forwarded a letter addressed to Dallewal and Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM) and SKM (NP) coordinator Sarwan Singh Pandher that the government is willing. to resume negotiations on the demands of 12 farmers, with a meeting scheduled to be held in Chandigarh on February 14. Although Dallewal decided 121 farmers who had started a hunger strike and tried to support him on January 15, they ended their strike.
When asked why the government agreed to restart the dialogue after a year, the BJP leaders said that the talks have been on the back burner but reaching an agreement is not easy. BJP leaders from State Minister Ravneet Singh Bittu and Punjab BJP president Sunil Jakhar have urged the farm unions to return to negotiations and Dallewal to end his hunger strike.
“Who will answer a minister like Bittu? He called union leaders Taliban during the Lok Sabha poll campaign last year and later said the Center should investigate our assets. Such people are no longer welcome to the farmers,” said Pandher.
The Punjab BJP leader said that political considerations may have played a role in the party’s push to restart the dialogue process. “The Delhi polls may also force the party to extend an invitation to the farmers’ unions as they may now be non-violent until February 14. The start of the hunger strike of 121 farmers sent bells to the BJP as they are old people who have no history of sitting on hunger strikes. The government was also worried about the deterioration of Dallewal’s health,” it said. BJP leader on the issue of disclosure.
Since Dallewal still does not want to eat until the farmers’ demands are met, it will be difficult to keep him healthy through medical intervention alone, according to doctors under the Punjab government. About 55 of them are from Khanauri morcha, working in three shifts.
“It is with great joy that Dallewal ji has started getting medical help and 121 others have also ended their hunger strike…now we urge Dallewalji to end his hunger strike so that he can be happy on February 14. assembly,” Punjab BJP spokesperson Pritpal Singh Baliawal told the Indian Express.
Even Sarwan Singh Pandher appealed to Dallewal to end his hunger strike.” I urge you to end your hunger strike, so that you can relax and be happy before the next round of negotiations…it will be difficult to stay healthy with medical help alone. Also, I urge the union government to prepare for holding the meeting keeping in view the health of Dallewalji and keep the venue in Delhi instead of Chandigarh because the issue is all India and not only Punjab,” said Monday.
This victory is a win for AAP and the Punjab government will be part of the February 14 talks and its ministers and MPs can now focus on the Delhi elections. Retired IPS officers Narinder Bhargav and Jaskaran Singh played a key role on the Punjab side, acting as liaisons between farm union leaders and the Punjab and Central governments.
“It is a great pleasure that Dallewalji has started receiving medical treatment and the negotiations will resume in February. The Punjab government has always taken up this issue with the Union government that talks should always take place and finally, the invitation has come,” said AAP spokesperson Neel Garg.
Punjab Agriculture Minister Gurmeet Singh Khudian said, “I request the Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan to go ahead with the meeting as February 14 is far away.”
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) General Secretary Daljeet Singh Cheema criticized the “very delayed response” from the Union government. “Now the big onus lies on the BJP. They should honor their words and they should implement all the demands they had agreed on in 2021 when the farmers raised a dharna on the Delhi border. In 2021 again, the BJP saw the Vidhan Sabha polls coming ahead of Punjab and now they are worried about the Delhi polls,” he said.
Congress state spokesperson Arshpreet Singh Khadial hit out at the Center saying Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chouhan “should apologize to the farmers for the delay they caused in the first place”. He continued, “The invitation to continue negotiations came after 54 days of hunger and 11 months of farmers protesting. Even after such a delay, the government has not implemented the MSP, instead it has invited the farmers to speak and that too after a month from today. If the BJP government can’t waive off Rs 16 lakh crore industrial debt, why can’t it provide MSP and loan waiver to farmers? “
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