The protesting farmers and the GOI will hold the next round of talks on Monday to try and find a solution to end the stir which has been going on for more than a month. This will be the seventh round of talks between the two sides. The GOI has been pushed into the corner and an increasingly uncomfortable position over the farm-laws with farmers and various support groups having camped  at the Delhi borders and many more continuously coming from states like Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, and Bihar, despite the winter and the recent rains.

Six rounds of talks between the two sides have so far failed to end the deadlock, with the farmers sticking to their demand for the repeal of the three farm laws passed by Parliament in September. The farm-laws allegedly have serious loopholes which can harm the farmers’ livelihood. The laws were passed in the middle of the pandemic in a parliament which had no question hour, which many suggest was to benefit the Ambani and Adani groups who have significant operations in Agro-business and are looking forward to augment and strengthen them.

While a consensus was reached at the last round of talks on issues related to the environment and Electricity Act, the deadlock continued on the two main demands, legal assurance on Minimum Support Price (MSP), and complete rollback of the three farm laws.

The farmers launched their protest at three Delhi border points, Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur on November 26, and have since then braved water cannons, cold wave and now winter rain. The continuous downpour led to water-logging at agitation venues on Sunday and waterproof tents did not help much, according to the protesters.

“The situation is very bad at protest sites due to rain which has caused water-logging. There is so much cold after the rains, but the government is not able to see our misery,” farmer leader Abhimanyu Kohar, a member of Sankyukt Kisan Morcha, said. “We are living on the streets in such harsh weather conditions away from our family. We are hopeful that the government will accept our demands tomorrow,” said a protesting farmer at the Ghazipur border.

Gurwinder Singh, who is camping at Singhu border, said that the weather will not dampen the spirit of farmers who have been protesting for over a month. “Despite facing several problems, we will not move from here until our demands are met,” he said.

Chilla and Ghazipur, two important border points near Delhi, remained closed due to the protests on Sunday. Delhi traffic police wrote on Twitter, “Traffic Alert: The Chilla & Ghazipur Borders are closed for traffic coming from Noida & Ghaziabad to Delhi because of farmer protests. Please take alternate route for coming to Delhi via Anand Vihar, DND, Apsara, Bhopra & Loni Borders.”

The Samyukt Kisan Morcha had held a press conference on Saturday where its leaders threatened to march to Delhi on January 26 with their tractors, trolleys and other vehicles if their demands are not met.

The opposition parties, including Congress, are supporting the farmers’ agitation. Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Sunday urged the central government to follow the “raj dharma” by repealing the farm laws.

“There is still time for the government to renounce its arrogance of power and immediately withdraw all three black laws unconditionally and end the agitation of the farmers who are dying in cold and rain. This can be raj dharma and a true tribute to the farmers who passed away,” Sonia Gandhi said in a statement.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi compared the ongoing farmers’ stir with the Champaran agitation during the British rule, and said that every farmer-labourer who is a part of the current movement is a ‘satyagrahi’ and that they will take their rights back.

The government has presented these laws as major agriculture sector reforms aimed at helping farmers and increasing their income, but the protesting unions fear that the new legislations will leave them at the mercy of big corporates by weakening the MSP and mandi systems, which has been seconded by experts like Kaushik Basu.