Agencies
New Delhi, December 18:
Affirming that the right to protest is part of a fundamental right, the Supreme Court today said it will not interfere at this stage with the farmers’ ongoing stir, and the agitation should be allowed to continue “without impediment” and without any breach of peace either by the protestors or the police.
As the top court in its bid to break the deadlock between the Centre and the farmers even mooted the idea of putting the three contentious farm laws on hold for their talks to continue, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar issued an 8-page open letter to farmers saying the Centre is ready to address all their concerns.
The Centre opposed the suggestion made by the court with Attorney General K K Venugopal saying the farmers would then not come forward for the negotiations. The Government’s top law officer, however, told the bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde that he would get back after taking instructions on keeping on hold implementation of the laws. The two sides have held five round of talks so far.
As it acknowledged the right to non-violent protest of farmers and also explored options to find an “effective solution” to end the impasse, the court said it wanted to set up an “impartial and independent” panel of agriculture experts and farmer unions but did not pursue the suggestion as agriculturists’ bodies, impleaded as parties by it on Wednesday, could not appear today to give their views. The agitation for the repeal of the three farm laws at Delhi’s border points entered the 22nd day.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Tomar through his letter to farmers has made an effort to engage in a humble dialogue, and appealed to the ‘annadaatas’ to read it.
Tomar in his letter said the Modi government is committed to the welfare of farmers and stressed that the new agri laws are aimed at benefiting small and marginal farmers.
“Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar has written a letter to farmer brothers and sisters and expressed his feelings, he has made an effort to engage in a humble dialogue. I request all ‘annadaatas’ (farmers), do read it. I also request all the people of the country to ensure that this letter reaches more and more people,” Modi tweeted in Hindi.
Accusing the Congress and other opposition parties of spreading falsehoods on the new farm laws, Tomar also appealed to the agitating farmers not to fall prey to the “white lies” being spread by “politically motivated people”. The agitating farmers are demanding scrapping of the three new farm laws enacted by the Centre.
Tomar, who is leading the negotiations with about 40 farmer unions along with Food Minister Piyush Goyal and Minister of State for Commerce Som Parkash, assured that the minimum support price (MSP) will continue and mandi system will be strengthened .
In an apparent attack on the Left parties, the Minister said they were still speaking the language they used in 1962 when India went to war with China.
