The two sides have agreed to meet again on January 8 (File)
A day after talks with the centre ended in a stalemate, the protesting farmers have announced that they will intensify their agitation against the three contentious agriculture laws for the next two weeks. Swaraj India's Yogendra Yadav, who has been backing the protesters, said on Tuesday that a tractor march will be organised at four Delhi borders on January 7 to press for their demands -- repealing the laws and giving legal guarantee for the Minimum Support Price (MSP) system. The leader called the march a "trailer" before the massive Republic Day agitation.
"We have decided that on January 7, we will take out a tractor march at four borders of Delhi including Eastern and Western peripheral. This will be a trailer for what lies ahead on January 26," Mr Yadav said at a press conference at the Singhu border, the epicentre of the protests.
"From tomorrow, for 2 weeks, 'Desh Jagran Abhiyan' will be started and protests will be intensified throughout the country," he added.
Last week, farmers had warned that they would intensify their protests if their demands were not met in the January 4 meeting. They had also announced a tractor rally and nationwide protests on January 26.
"On January 26, we will hold a massive rally in Delhi with tricolours on tractors. We give a call for countrywide protests at all headquarters (of the unions)," the protesting farmers had said.
At the seventh round of the centre-farmer meeting yesterday, no breakthrough was made as both sides remained unmoved over their stance on the laws. Sources said the government proposed to discuss the farmers' demand for a legal guarantee for MSP, but the farmers' union leaders insisted on discussing the repeal of farm laws.
Agriculture Minister Narendra Tomar "clearly said that the laws will not be repealed. He even told us to approach the Supreme Court for repeal of the laws," said Sarwan Singh Pandher of the Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee, who attended the meeting.
The two sides have agreed to meet again on January 8.
Farmers fear that these laws will result in the phasing out of traditional crop markets, leaving them at the mercy of big corporate houses. They also claim that through these laws, the government intends to scrap the MSP system.
The centre says the laws will eliminate the role of middlemen by providing more avenues to farmers to sell their crops.