Haryana BJP Opens Negotiations with Protesting Farmers after Lathicharge by Police in Kurukshetra

The Haryana government on Friday formed a three-member committee to hold talks with farmers protesting against Centre’s ordinances leaving government under immense pressure to mend their equation with the cultivators. The committee will comprise of Hisar MP Brijendra Singh, Bhiwani-Mahendragarh MP Dharambir Singh and Kurukshetra MP Naib Saini, who will hold talks with the farmers to resolve their issues, reported NDTV.

Haryana BJP chief OP Dhankar, a top regional leader who had earlier been the president of the party’s farmers’ body, formed the panel and scheduled three meetings with the farmers’ bodies to mitigate their anger against the government after the clash in Kurukshetra on Thursday. Two of the meetings will reportedly be held on Saturday, September 13, in Rohtak and Karnal and the third will be on Sunday, September 14, in Panchkula.

Farmers have been protesting across Punjab and Haryana against Centre’s three ordinances – Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Ordinance, 2020, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Ordinance, 2020, and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Ordinance, 2020 – that seek to provide provide barrier-free trade for farmers’ produce outside notified farm mandis. The ordinances, brought by the government on June 5, also seek to empower farmers to enter into agreements with private players in the market prior to the production for sale of agri-produce.

The negotiations have been opened by the BJP-Jannayak Janata Party government in the state after the farmers’ bodies clashed with police in Pipli area of Haryana’s Kurukshetra district on Thursday which led to lathicharge by the police. Few leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) also disapproved of the police’s action against the farmers and tweeted on the same.

The district police on Friday registered cases against 300 farmers, including Bharatiya Kisan Union chief Gurnam Singh Chaduni, for damaging public property and violating restrictions on assembly during the clash that left many injured including farmers. Chaduni, however, threatened to intensify the protests if the demands were not met. “If the farmers’ demands are not met by September 14, there would be protests at all district headquarters, and on September 20, all roads in the state will be blocked,” he said.

The Congress came in support of the farmers on Saturday and hit out at the Centre over the ordinances, alleging that they would subjugate the farmers “at the altar of a handful of crony capitalists” and were a “death knell” for agriculture. Previous state finance minister and senior BJP leader, Captain Abhimanyu, was also critical of the police’s move. Former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda visited farmers in the village on Friday.