New Delhi, Dec 9, (dpa/GNA) – Indian farmers’ unions said on Thursday that they were suspending their agitation against controversial farm laws on Delhi’s borders and will be returning home.
The three laws which the Narendra Modi government says were aimed at modernizing Indian agriculture, particularly storage and marketing, have been repealed by parliament.
Farmers leaders said the Modi government had given them a formal letter promising to meet most of their other demands, including taking back of thousands of criminal cases filed against agitating farmers and compensation to the kin of those who had died during the protest.
“We will celebrate on December 11 [Saturday] with rallies and meetings all over the country and at the borders and start returning home the same day,” said Balbir Singh Rajewal, a spokesperson for the Samyukt Kisan Morcha, a forum of unions and organizations that were a part of the agitation.
Leaders of the unions would meet on January 15 to review the situation especially the government’s moves on withdrawing cases.
“It is a great victory. An arrogant government had to take back laws which were against farmers and poor people and favored corporates,” union leader Ashok Dhawale said.
The withdrawal will take a week or more, another leader, Krishna Prasad, said. “There are thousands of tractors and trolleys parked at Delhi’s borders.”
The farmers have been parked at Delhi’s borders since November 2020 at sites that look like mini tented settlements, braving summer, winter and Covid-19.
GNA