Farmers burn farm law copies to mark protest

New Delhi: A day after the Supreme Court stayed the three farm laws and formed a committee to “study” them, the agitating farmers who had declared that their agitation will continue, burnt copies of the three Acts on Wednesday to mark the harvesting season of Lohri.

The farmers' agitation entered its 50th day on Wednesday.

With the next round of talks between farmers and the Centre scheduled for January 15, minister of state for agriculture Parshottam Rupala said that dialogue is the only way forward to resolve the deadlock.

"It is only through dialogue that a way forward can be found," Mr Rupala said on Wednesday.

Farmers unions have also shown willingness to attend the scheduled ninth round of talks but have insisted on a complete repeal of the farm laws.

The agitating farmers' on Wednesday received a boost as a delegation of 1,000-odd Kerala farmers aligned with the All India Kisan Sabha’s Kerala unit decided to join the agitation at Delhi border on Thursday.

This will be the first delegation from Kerala to participate in the sit-in. The delegation is led by former Rajya Sabha MP and senior CPI(M) leader K.N. Balagopal.

“It is the government’s propaganda that only Punjab farmers are impacted by the three laws. The truth is these laws will affect each and every farmer of the country,” Mr Balagopal said.

In a related development, Haryana's deputy chief minister Dushyant Chautala — who is under pressure from the agitating farmers — met the Prime Minister to discuss the protests in the state. The meeting came a day after Mr Chautala and chief minister Manoharlal Khattar had met home minister Amit Shah and later reiterated that the state government was under no threat.

Mr Chautala, whose Jananayak Janata Party (JJP) lends support to the BJP government in Haryana, is learnt to have said after the meeting that there is no threat to the state government.