Open to dialogue only when PM will publicly be ready to accept amendments in farm laws: All India Kisan Sabha

The All India Kisan Sabha on Monday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi should "publicly be ready to accept amendments" in the recently passed three farm reform laws and only then the farmers' organisations will be open to a dialogue on the issue. Protests have erupted in many states, especially in Punjab and Haryana, against the legislations which were passed in the Monsoon session of Parliament.

The Congress and several other opposition parties have alleged these are "anti-farmer measures" and will "destroy" the agriculture sector.

The government has, however, asserted that the new laws will free farmers from the clutches of middleman and allow them to sell their produce anywhere they want at a remunerative price.


"AIKS demands from the prime minister that he should publicly be ready to accept amendments in the recently passed three agriculture-related Acts. Then only the farmers' organisations will have a dialogue with the Government of India," the organisation's General Secretary Atul Kumar Anjaan and Working President Bhupinder Sambher said in a joint statement.

They also said the PM, his cabinet and BJP leaders "must stop canards against the farmers and not to mislead them on the Swaminathan Commission report".

"Agriculture minister (Narendra Singh) Tomar is trying to mislead (the farmers) by saying that out of 201 recommendations of the Swaminathan Commission, the Modi government has accepted and implemented 200 recommendations.

"Such misleading irresponsible vilifying campaign can't subside the genuine anxieties and angst of the agrarian masses and agri-experts who in one voice are pointing out the dangers to their employment and livelihood as also to food security and economic self-sufficiency of the nation," the two leaders said.

They also alleged that the interests of the nation are being "hypothecated to the corporates" while maize, cotton, basmati and other crops are selling below the minimum support price (MSP) in Punjab and other states in the absence of government and CCI procurement.

"We urge the Centre and PM Modi to stop this vilification campaign and take concrete steps to agree publicly that amendments in favour of farmers will be done in just passed three Acts, which are rightly being dubbed in their present form as anti-farmer, anti-agriculture and anti-economic self-sufficiency," the statement said.