Can You Assure Law Won’t be Implemented So Talks Can be Facilitated, SC Asks Centre During Hearing of Plea to Remove Protesters

Taking to Twitter, Swaraj India leader Yogendra Yadav, who is also a member of umbrella group Sankyukt Kisan Morcha, said, “The SC can and must decide on the constitutionality of the 3 farm acts. But it is not for the judiciary to decide on the feasibility and desirability of these laws. That’s between the farmers and their elected leaders. SC monitored negotiation would be a wrong path.” Bhartiya Kisan Union (Ekta Ugrahan), which has been leading the agitation at Tikri border, said that there would be no meaning of a new committee now. Enacted in September, the three farm laws have been projected by the government as major reforms in the agriculture sector that will remove the middlemen and allow farmers to sell anywhere in the country.

The Sanyukt Kisan Morcha wrote a letter to the Centre asking it to stop holding “parallel talks” with other farmer bodies over the contentious legislations. With the government saying that it is waiting for the reply of farmer leaders, the Morcha said there was no question of responding as they had made their stand clear in the last round of meeting with Union ministers that they want the laws to be repealed.

In the letter to Union Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Joint Secretary Vivek Aggarwal, the Morcha said the Centre should also stop “defaming” the ongoing protests being held against the farm laws. During the day, security arrangements were tightened at the Chilla border between Delhi and Noida as farmer union leaders threatened to completely block the key border point to press for their demands.

Thousands of farmers have been camping at several Delhi border points for 21 days on the trot, causing closure of several routes. Hearing the matter, the Supreme Court said it will form a committee to resolve the dispute. “We will have members of the government, members from farmer organisations in it. This may soon become a national issue. We will have members from farmer organisations from rest of India also. You propose list of names of committee members,” said a bench of Chief Justice S A Bobde and justices A S Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian.