Balbir Singh Rajewal, the ‘think tank’ of farmers agitation, said we are ready for talks if government invites us (farmer leaders). But our demand is the same. We want withdrawal of the three farm laws.
NEW DELHI — On completion of 100 days of the farmers’ stir, Punjab’s Balbir Singh Rajewal on Saturday said the farmers are ready for the next round of dialogue with the Central government, but they will not accept the three contentious farm laws with modifications.
Speaking from the Western Peripheral Expressway in Kundli in Haryana, where the farmers organised a blockade from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. in a bid to intensify their protest, Rajewal said this protest is just a “symbolic” one against the government on these farm laws and it will become “bigger”.
“This is a symbolic protest. It will become bigger… We are ready for talks if government invites us (farmer leaders). But our demand is the same. We want withdrawal of the three farm laws. We will not accept the modification in these laws,” Rajewal said while speaking to IANS.
The 77-year-old farmer leader, who has been leading the current agitation against the Narendra Modi government’s farm laws along with other key farmer leaders, said that the farmers’ strategy is to add more states in the demonstration which completed 100 days on Saturday.
Rajewal, the leader of his own BKU faction, is credited with having drafted the constitution of the BKU. His vast experience and in-depth knowledge of agriculture in Punjab has made him the ‘think tank’ of this agitation.
Hundreds of vehicles were stopped as protesting farmers blocked the Kundli-Manesar-Palwal (KMP) Expressway to mark the completion of 100 days of their agitation at the Delhi borders.
The call for blocking the KMP Expressway was given by the Samyukta Kisan Morcha, an umbrella body of protesting farmer unions spearheading the agitation against the agriculture-related legislations. The 136-km KMP Expressway is also known as the Western Peripheral Expressway.
Thousands of farmers are sitting on the Delhi borders since November 26 last year against the three farm laws enacted in September 2020 during the Monsoon Session of Parliament. The farmers say they are “black laws” and “anti-farmer”. — IANS
