After day-long protest and the Bharat Bandh call by protesting farmers, a delegation of representatives of protesting farmers met Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday night to resolve the deadlock over the contentious farm laws passed by the Centre. ALSO READ | Bharat Bandh: Day-Long Protests By Farmers Witness Dharna, Road Blocks; Check PAN-India Situation
Around 13 farmer leaders were called for the meeting, which began after 8 pm Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR) office in Delhi’s Pusa.
As per reports, the crucial sixth round of meeting between farmers and government has been called off by the farmer leaders after they met Amit Shah. The information was shared by All India Kisan Sabha general secretary Hannan Mollah.
Farmers' Protest & Bharat Bandh On December 8 | 10 Points
1. The sixth round of talks between farmer leaders and the government scheduled for Wednesday has been canceled by the farmer leaders, AIKS General Secretary said after a late-night meeting with Amit Shah. Government will give a written proposal to farmers leaders on Wednesday following which the protesters will hold a meeting to decided the future course of action.
2. The meeting of farmers will take place at Singhu border (Delhi-Haryana border) at 12 pm, Mollah said adding that government not ready to repeal agriculture sector laws. "We want repeal of laws, there is no middle path," he said.
3. Mollah said that the government only offered to carry out certain amendments, and in light of this, the farmers would decide on whether to participate in the next round of talks scheduled on Wednesday.
4. Several farmer leaders have declared Tuesday's Bharat Bandh call a success. Referring to Tuesday's Bharat Bandh, Haryana Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) President Gurnam Singh Chathuni said that the government should understand that the whole nation joined the call given by the farmers.
5. Farmers took the national centrestage on Tuesday as their call for a Bharat Bandh' to push for a repeal of the new agri laws disrupted life in myriad ways with shops closed, transport affected and protesters squatting on roads and train tracks in several places, though many states remained largely unaffected.
6. As analysts, politicians and others assessed how effective the 'bandh' had been, Swaraj India leader Yogendra Yadav claimed it was observed in around 10,000 places in 25 states.
7. Emergency services were exempted and banks, too, continued operations as the pan-India shutdown, backed by most opposition parties and trade unions, rolled out noisily but peacefully with its impact felt in Punjab, Haryana and Delhi, the epicentre of the snowballing protests, as well as in states such as Odisha, Maharashtra and Bihar.
8. The Coronavirus pandemic appeared to recede into the background. Security was stepped up, restive crowds demonstrated in some places and the numbers swelled at Delhi's border points. Protesters also blocked railway tracks in places in West Bengal, Bihar and Odisha.
9. As slogans such as Kisan Ekta Zindabad were heard in protest centrepoints such as Tikri and the agitation picked up pace, the hashtag #Aaj_Bharat_Bandh_Hai was trending worldwide on Twitter till late afternoon.
10. In Delhi, where most main markets were open, tension spiralled with the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) alleging that Delhi Police had put Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal under house arrest. City police denied the claim, but the party stuck to its guns and said the move was a response to Kejriwal meeting protesting farmers at the Singhu border.