'Farmers will continue their protests against farm acts'

President of National Farmers Committee Shiv Kumar Sharma said that the newly-inducted farm laws are like death warrants for the farmers. He said that the farmers will continue with their protests till the government rolls back the acts.

New Delhi: Agitating farmers have continued their protest on the Delhi-Haryana border and for the fourth consecutive day and have rejected the Centre's offers to hold talks. The farmers have said that they will continue with their stir and will not end the blockade.

In an exclusive interview with ETV Bharat, President of National Farmers Committee Shiv Kumar Sharma said that the newly-inducted farm laws are like death warrants for the farmers. The fight has now reached new heights and farmers will continue with their protests.

Kumar added, "At this time of the year, farmers are engaged in cultivating and harvesting crops, but this year they are hitting out on the streets. Had the Central government cared for the welfare of the farmers, it would not have proposed to offer talks with terms and conditions."

The President termed the talks held between govt and Punjab farmer organisations as 'formality' and said that it is an attempt by the government to deviate the public from the real issue.

Farmers of different states have been agitating against the agricultural legislation for the last two months. On the call of United Kisan Morcha, farmers from other states of the country were also preparing to travel to Delhi but were already arrested.

Farmers' organizations alleged that instead of discussing their demands, the government has tried to suppress the voice of the farmers. Shivkumar Sharma further said that even if the government makes Minimum Support Price (MSP) constitutional, then also farmers will not get a deserving price for their crops.

Shiv Kumar Sharma said, "So far the government has been declared MSP on 24 items. Political leaders claim that that the government has prepared a draft of 900 pages for the three agricultural laws, but still, farmers' demand has been ignored."

Shiv Kumar said that if the government just includes one line stating that 'it would buy the agricultural produce from farmers at MSP', all these protests would come to an end.

He added, "according to the provisions of the newly-passed farm laws, the matter will not be heard in a court and rather will be solved at the district level. The farmers should be given the rights to move to the court in case of any dispute."

Concluding his views he stated, "In a democratic country, there is right to protest. We regret the inconvenience caused to the administration and public due to the on-going protests but these new farm acts are like death warrants. The farmers will continue to protest unless the government withdraws them."