Farmers' protest: 9th round of talks tomorrow 'doubtful' because of SC panel

As the apex court has set up a committee which will hear the grievances of the farmers, uncertainties have cropped up whether there is any use of continuing parallel talks.

As it was decided during the 8th round of talks between the Centre and union leaders of protesting farmers, both sides are scheduled to meet on January 15 (Friday) again to further the ongoing consultation that began in December. But with the Supreme Court order staying the implementation of the three contentious farm laws and setting up of a four-member committee to mediate between the two sides, tomorrow's meeting remains uncertain.

Farmers are continuing their protests against the three farm laws, the implementation of which has been stayed as of now by the Supreme Court. (HT_PRINT)

Though there has been no official statement from either the government or the farmers on tomorrow's meeting, a section believes that as the apex court has set up a committee which will hear the grievances of the farmers, there is no use of continuing parallel talks with the Centre — eight rounds of which have yielded no breakthrough. The meeting is on as of now and both parties will decide whether to hold talks or not, minister of state for agriculture Kailash Choudhary told PTI.

However, the government is in favour of continuing talks as agriculture minister of state Parshottam Rupala said a solution can be found only through dialogue. Farmers too are not sure whether tomorrow's meeting will take place through they have refused to appear before the Supreme Court-mandated panel as they consider it to be "pro-government".

The Supreme Court stay has come as a disappointment to both the Centre and the farmers. Kailash Choudhary said the government did not want the laws to be stayed. "We did not want the laws that were passed in Parliament to be stayed. In spite of this, the Supreme Court order is 'sarva-manya'. We welcome the Supreme Court order," he said.