△ Image from the Internet
According to Indian media reports on the 18th, Laksh Tikai, the leader of the protest movement against the farmers’ bill, said that they would send 200 farmers to sit in front of the parliament building in New Delhi every day from July 22nd during the upcoming monsoon meeting of the Indian Parliament. Police in New Delhi will hold consultations with farmers’ representatives on the demonstration site on the 18th. The police said they might advise farmers to change the location of the demonstration.
The monsoon meeting is tentatively scheduled to be held from July 19th to August 13th. Laksh Tikai said that this will be a peaceful protest, farmers will sit outside the parliament, and the parliamentary meeting can proceed normally.
Indian farmers’ organizations announced to the public that the government has made it clear that it will not withdraw the bill, but the door to negotiations is open. The government said that it was of little significance to hold talks. Farmers’ organizations insist that if the government does not withdraw the farmers’ bill, their protests will last at least one to two years.
Since the end of November last year, farmers in Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh in India have been protesting against three bills involving their immediate interests. Farmers are worried that after the implementation of the new law, the original minimum food price guarantee system will be destroyed, and farmers’ interests will be completely at the mercy of agricultural oligarchs.
So far, the Indian government and farmers’ organizations have held 11 rounds of talks, the last of which was on January 22nd. At present, the Supreme Court of India has requested to suspend the implementation of three controversial farmers’ bills and set up a special committee to find solutions. (Reporter Wang Jianbing, General Desk)