As the farmer- protests are gathering steam with numerous farmers and their supporters pouring in each day at the Delhi border, the unions have made their stance clear that they want nothing less than the repealing of the three farm-laws.

The agitation of farmers against the three agricultural laws passed by the Centre completed Day 21 and entered day 22. Farmer-unions, which are protesting at Delhi’s borders against the recently-enacted farm laws with dangerous loopholes, sent a written reply to the government on Wednesday, rejecting it’s December 9 proposal in which it offered significant concessions.

In an email to Vivek Agrawal, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Sanyukt Kisan Morcha leader Darshan Pal said, “With reference to the proposal and letter received from you, we want to inform the government that the farmer unions had held a joint meeting on the same day and discussed your proposal and rejected it because it was the written format of the proposal verbally offered by the government representatives on December 5, 2020.”

Pal also asked GOI to stop maligning the farmers’ movement. He said, “We want the government to stop maligning the farmers’ movement and stop parallel negotiations with other farmer organizations.”

An Agriculture Ministry official confirmed that the government received a written response from the farmer unions. However, he refused to answer queries about whether the government would send an invitation for talks to farmers.

The written response from the protesting farm unions came a day after Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said that the GOI was awaiting a written response on its proposal sent to farmers.

Tomar said, “We are waiting for farm unions’ views on issues on which they want to talk so that we discuss again and take the matter to conclusion.”  “The government will invite protesting farmers for talks the day after they revert with their response to the concessions offered,” Tomar added.

Asked about the next steps in defusing the standoff with farmers, Tomar said that informal talks were on with some farm leaders, and he was awaiting a response from them on the government’s proposal sent on December 9.

“I am ready to send them an invitation once they revert on the changes proposed by the government,” he said. Tomar was, however, clear that the government would not repeal the farm laws. This betrays the deliberate avoidance of the authorities to acknowledge the gathering momentum of the protests with thousands farmers reaching the protest sites daily from various states. Many associations in the food-grain market in states like Madhya Pradesh have also given a strong hint of joining the agitation at the capital border due to the crumbled market.

The protests also saw another sad and concerning development. Baba Ram Singh, a Sikh priest from Haryana, who had joined the farmers’ protest, died by suicide on Wednesday. Singh said in a note that he was sacrificing his life “to express anger and pain against the government’s injustice”. Singh, 65, shot himself, the police said.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court on Wednesday has indicated that it may form a committee having representatives of the government and farmer unions across the country to resolve the deadlock over farmers protesting at several roads near Delhi borders saying “it may become an issue”.

Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said that the ongoing farmers’ protest at Delhi borders is an “exception” and “limited to one state”, and hoped for an early solution.