Farmers’ protest Live Updates: BJP’s Birender Singh joins stir; Tomar hopeful of ending impasse before year-end

Farmers Protest Live News Updates: Birender Singh said he was keen to go to the borders of Delhi where the protests have entered the 24th day.

Farmers’ Protest Live Updates: Declaring that the farmers’ protest against the new farm laws is now “everybody’s agitation”, BJP leader and former Union Minister Chaudhary Birender Singh joined a dharna in their support on Friday at Sampla in Jhajjar district of Haryana. The sit-in had been organised by members of the Sir Chhotu Ram Manch — Birender Singh is the grandson of Sir Chhotu Ram, pre-independent India’s tallest Jat leader and the driving force behind several laws and measures to end exploitation of farmers by moneylenders. Singh’s son Brijendra Singh is the BJP MP from Hisar.

Birender Singh said he was keen to go to the borders of Delhi where the protests have entered the 24th day. “I stand by them. This is everybody’s agitation now. It’s not limited to a section of society. I am already in the field and have made up my mind. If I am not in the frontline, then people will feel that I am just doing politics, nothing else,” he told The Indian Express.

In other news, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh 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 – reiterated on Friday that the three new farm laws are beneficial for farmers and the government is ready to give a written assurance that the minimum support price (MSP) and mandi system will continue.

“We have constantly been holding discussions with farmers’ unions… Overall, our effort is to reach a solution through dialogue with them. We are still open for talks. We are holding discussions with unions. I hope through dialogue we can move towards reaching a solution,” Tomar said while replying to a question about the stalemate during an interview with PTI. “Informal talks are going on. I am hopeful of some way out,” he added.

Farmers’ Protest Live Updates: Stir enters 24th day; Haryana BJP leader joins dharna; Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar hopes to end stalemate in talks by year-end. Follow this blog for the latest news and updates.

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Meanwhile,  Prime Minister Narendra Modi Friday said the new laws were not brought overnight, but were a result of long-held demand of reforms by parties, experts and progressive farmers. Modi, who was addressing farmers in Madhya Pradesh’s Raisen district via video conferencing at a state-level Kisan Sammelan (farmers’ conference), said, “There were demands for the reforms from parties, experts, progressive farmers for many years. The previous governments had made promises to the farmers but never delivered. They are upset because what they had only talked about, Modi has done that,” he said, adding they don’t have any problem with the reforms but with Modi.

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