No point in holding talks with SC-picked panel: Farm bodies
Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM) convener Sarwan Singh Pandher said the high-powered committee doesn’t have any power to solve our issue of MSP.
A week after the Supreme Court constituted a high-powered committee to amicably resolve the grievances of protesting farmers, representatives of various farmer unions have shown little interest in holding talks with the committee, claiming the latter was not empowered to address their most pertinent demand — a legal guarantee of minimum support price (MSP) for their produce.
On September 2, the top court had directed the five-member committee, headed by former Punjab and Haryana high court judge Justice Nawab Singh, to reach out to the agitating farmers to persuade them to remove their tractors, trolleys etc. from the Shambhu border to provide relief to commuters.
Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM) convener Sarwan Singh Pandher, while talking to HT, said there was no point of holding talks with the high-powered panel as it will not be able to address their MSP demand.
“Had it been a committee of Union ministers, there would have been some political legitimacy in holding talks. The high-powered committee doesn’t have any power to solve our issue of MSP,” Pandher claimed.
The farmer union leader, however, maintained that they have not been invited by the top court-appointed panel for talks yet.
“We have not been invited by the committee so far. If they invite us with some agenda, we will decide only after holding a meeting with Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political),” Pandher added.
Scores of protesting farmers, mostly from Punjab, have been camping at Shambhu and Khanauri — bordering Punjab and Haryana — since February 13, when their “Delhi Chalo” march was halted by security forces. The protesters have been pressing for a plethora of demands, including a legal guarantee of MSP for their produce, implementation of the Swaminathan Commission’s formula, loan waiver, pension for farmers and labourers and withdrawal of criminal cases lodged against farmers during their year-long protest in 2020-21.
The high-powered committee headed by justice Nawab Singh, a former judge of the Punjab and Haryana high court also includes BS Sandhu, former director general of police, Haryana; Devinder Sharma, known for his expertise in agricultural issues; Prof Ranjit Singh Ghumman, professor of eminence at Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar; and Dr Sukhpal Singh, agricultural economist from Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana. Prof Baldev Raj Kamboj, vice-chancellor of Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar, has to be consulted as a special invitee by the committee.
The panel is likely to convene an internal meeting in the next few days to finalise the issues they would be addressing.
Expressing similar sentiments as Pandher, Bharatiya Kisan Union (Shaheed Bhagat Singh) spokesperson Tejveer Singh claimed that the high-powered committee seems to have been constituted to clear the blockage on the Ambala-New Delhi national highway.
“The committee, instead of us, should first talk to the individual who had filed the petition in the Punjab and Haryana high court, and secondly to the Haryana government that challenged the high court’s decision in the Supreme Court. We are nowhere in the picture. The committee’s agenda is to open the barricades erected by the Haryana government at Shambhu border,” Singh claimed.
Stating that the farmers have never backed away from talks, Singh alleged the committee needs to have an agenda regarding legal guarantee to MSP, which, he claimed, was not the case with the top court-appointed panel.
The apex court had on September 2 constituted a high-powered committee, headed by a former Punjab and Haryana high court judge, to address various demands of farmers who have been protesting since February, including a legal guarantee of minimum support price (MSP) for crops, even as it warned the farmers against politicising the issue and asked them to minimise public inconvenience caused by their continued blockades of highways.
A bench of justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan highlighted that while farmers have legitimate grievances, these must be addressed without turning the protests into a political tool, thereby ensuring that the larger public, especially those relying on essential services, are not unduly affected.
The states of Punjab and Haryana have been allowed to suggest issues for the committee’s consideration, which is expected to place on record these proposed issues before the court by October 14 for further deliberation.
The Supreme Court order also called for immediate action to alleviate the hardships caused by the blockade at the Shambhu border near Ambala. The court directed the committee to reach out to the protesting farmers and persuade them to remove their tractors, trolleys and other blockades from the national highway.
The apex court also cautioned the farmers to remain independent of political parties and to avoid raising demands that are not feasible for immediate acceptance, adding that while all issues would be considered, this would be done in a phased manner based on the recommendations of the committee.