‘No condition should be imposed,’ says Rakesh Tikait after Centre’s call for talks

"There has been 0% sale in over 40 APMCs in Madhya Pradesh. They are on the verge of collapse. APMCs in Bihar, UP have been shut down," Rakesh Tikait said.

Leader of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) Rakesh Tikait on Thursday said that the government should not impose conditions on the protesting farmers if it wants to discuss the issue of the three farm laws.

"If they (government) want to talk, they can talk, but no conditions should be imposed,” Rakesh Tikait said. (ANI File Photo )

“The farm laws will not be curbed, yet they are asking us to end the protest. Farmers are not protesting for 8 months so that they could follow government’s orders. If they want to talk, they can talk, but no conditions should be imposed,” Tikait said, news agency ANI reported. His remarks came after Union agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar asked the farmers to give up the protests and come to the discussion table. Tomar, however, stood firm by the government’s position that the three farm laws would not be repealed.

Also, the minister assured that more resources would be provided to the Agricultural Produce Market Committees (APMC) and they would be strengthened.

“APMCs will not be done away with. The Centre had declared in the Budget that the APMC will be part of the ₹1 lakh crore infrastructure fund. APMC can benefit from the fund through loans, interest waivers,” ANI quoted Tomar as saying. “ ₹1 lakh crore allocated under Atmanirbhar Bharat to Farmers Infrastructure Fund can be used by APMCs,” he further said.

However, Tikait seemed unconvinced and questioned the government’s plan. “What is this formula that APMCs will continue to run despite no sales?” he asked. “They should tell us the system through which mandis will be saved. If produce are purchased outside Mandis, then they will be finished. There has been 0% sale in over 40 APMCs in Madhya Pradesh. They are on the verge of collapse. APMCs in Bihar, UP have been shut down,” he added.

“If no purchases are done at mandis, how will they survive? They said APMCs will use ₹1 lakh crore agriculture infrastructure fund. It may be possible that the government supports APMCs for one or two years but what will happen after that?” he further asked. Reiterating the farmer unions’ stance, he insisted that farmers will not be benefited unless there is a legal guarantee on the minimum support price (MSP).

Several farmers have been protesting at Delhi’s border since November last year against the three farm laws enacted by the Union government. More than ten rounds of discussions have taken place between the farmer unions’ leaders and the government, but no agreement has been reached.

(With inputs from ANI)