Karnal: Farmers to hold another meet with administration, impasse may end today

Farmers have said that Friday's meeting proved to be “very positive”, one where most of the issues pertaining to the police clashes last month were resolved, and only two or three of those matters were left for discussion in the next round of meeting on Saturday.

Farmers putting up their demonstrations outside the Karnal mini-secretariat in Haryana will be meeting the district administration for another round of talks today, following which the impasse is expected to come to an end. The protesting farmers on Friday held the third round of talks – one which they said concluded on a “positive” note – over the August 28 police action which had led to the entire contention. According to a farmer leader, now the fourth round of talks will take place at 9am on Saturday, where all issues are likely to be cleared.

Haryana: Farmers during their sit-in protest demanding action against IAS officer Ayush Sinha over police lathi-charge on the protesting farmers in August in Karnal on Thursday.  (ANI)

To provide a bit of context, several anti-farm law demonstrators, heading towards Karnal to protest a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) meeting on August 28, were lathi-charged by cops - an incident that left around 10 farmers injured. A video later surfaced and went viral on the internet, in which IAS officer Ayush Sinha was seen allegedly instructing policemen to “break heads” of the cultivators if they breached the security cordon at the BJP meeting.

The farmers, spearheaded by the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) – a platform for farm unions – then started staging an indefinite protest at the main entrance of the Karnal mini-secretariat since September 7 against the police action last month. The farmers seek, among other demands, the suspension and police action against Sinha, who has already been transferred out of Karnal and posted as additional secretary of Citizen Resources Information Department (CRID).

Since then, the SKM-led farmers and the Karnal district administration have held several rounds of talks while the protests outside the mini-secretariat rolled on for four days, leading to an impasse. However, the farmers' union said that Friday's meeting was “very positive”, one where most of the issues pertaining to the police clashes last month were resolved, and only two or three of those matters were left for discussion in the next round of meeting on Saturday.

Haryana's additional chief secretary Devender Singh, who presided over the meeting, also informed Hindustan Times that talks with the farmers proved to be positive.

Earlier on Thursday, Haryana's home minister Anil Vij said that the state government is ready to conduct a fair investigation into the Karnal incident.

“Farmers are agitating in Karnal, it is their right,” he said. “Our officers are talking to them. Talks are important but only valid demands will be accepted... We are ready to conduct a fair investigation but it's not only the sub-divisional magistrate who will be probed, the entire episode will be investigated.”