Farmers reject conditional talks

New Delhi: Rejecting the Centre's offer to hold talks once they move to the Burari ground, agitating farmers who have been staying put at Delhi's borders for four days said on Sunday that they will not end the blockade and will continue their stir against the new farm laws.

After a meeting of over 30 farmer groups on Sunday, their representatives said they will not move to the Burari ground as it is an "open jail". They said the farmers will not accept any conditional dialogue and will block all five entry points to Delhi.

"The condition laid down by Union Home Minister Amit Shah is not acceptable to us. We will not hold any conditional talks. We reject the government's offer. The blockade will not end. We will block all five entry points to Delhi," Surjeet S Phul, Bhartiya Kisan Union's Punjab president, told reporters. "The condition put for talks is an insult to farmers. We will never go to Burari. It is not a park but an open jail," he added.

After spending another night in the cold, thousands of farmers continued to protest the Centre's new agri laws on the fourth consecutive day on Sunday, staying put at the Singhu and Tikri border points.

"We do not accept the condition of their (govt) proposal. We are ready to talk but will not accept any condition now," said Gurnam Singh Chadhoni, Haryana unit president for the Bhartiya Kisan Union.

Darshan Pal, Punjab president of Krantikari Kisan Union, said, "The government has invited us to talk with conditions. The environment should be created for a conversation. We will not talk if there are any conditions".

Amit Shah had appealed to the farmers to shift to the Burari ground and had said the Centre was ready to hold discussions with them as soon as they move to the designated place. A delegation of the farmers has been invited for a discussion on December 3, he said, adding now that some of their unions have demanded that talks should be held immediately, the Central government is ready to do so as soon as the protesters shift to the ground in Burari.

"If the government is serious about addressing the demands of the farmers, it should stop laying down conditions, should stop assuming that the dialogue can be about an explanation to farmers about the benefits of the Acts," said a representative of the All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee (AIKSCC), an umbrella body of farmers' groups.

Joginder Singh, president of Bhartiya Kisan Ektagrah, "We are sitting at the borders. Our demand is that the government take back the farm laws and we will not accept anything less than that".

Raising slogans against the government, the farmers staged protests at the border amid heavy police presence. The Delhi Sikh Gurudwara Management Committee (DSGMC) offered food to the agitating farmers.

Meanwhile, farmers who had reached Nirankarai Samagam Ground in Burari on Saturday continued their protest there.

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh has also termed Shah's offer to hold discussions at the earliest as the best in the interest of the farming community and the nation at large.