Editor’s Pick: Farmers refute PM's charge

(The Editor's Pick is a new newsletter from The Hindu that provides a snapshot of the most important stories from today's edition of our newspaper, along with a note from our top editors on why we chose to give prominence to these stories.)

At a programme to release an instalment of ₹18,000 crore to 9 crore beneficiaries of the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana on December 25, Prime Minister employed a combination of outreach to farmers and political attack. People with a certain political ideology were instigating the farmers and moving the goal posts every day to raise new issues not even concerned with the movement and were not allowing discussions for political reasons, he said.

Mr. Modi said the farmers’ movement began with concerns over the Minimum Support Price, but they were now seeking release of those accused of violence and even opposing the toll plazas. The Prime Minister, however, reiterated the government’s offer for talks, saying that his government was ready to talk even with their staunch political opponents, but the talks could be held only within the realm of facts, logic and issues.

The charges were swiftly refuted by the farmers’ unions, with the AIKSCC general-secretary Avik Saha saying the Prime Minister should stop confusing people and not obfuscate the goals of the movement. “The farmers have only one demand. Give them assured, guaranteed and legalised income. It can be done through announcing MSP for all crops and ensuring that all farmers across the country get it. It must be a legal guarantee,” Mr. Saha said. The Centre had once again reached out to the farmers' unions for talks with a letter on Thursday and a meeting is expected to be held among them today to take a decision on resuming the dialogue.

It was exactly a month ago that scores of farmers reached the borders of Delhi and started their agitation. In all that time, despite some rounds of talks, and offers and entreaties by the government, the battlelines barely seem to have changed. As we report in the paper today, when the farmers parked their trucks and trolleys in the last week of November, they had come with sacks of wheat, rice, flour and vegetables. Now, the trucks also have toothpaste, kneecaps, blankets, and desi geysers, among many essentials. Meanwhile, another batch of farmers and farm labourers under the banner of the Kisan Mazdoor Sangarsh Committee (KMSC) from Punjab started its tractor-trolley ‘march’ for Delhi on Friday, arriving in some 600-700 vehicles. A resolution, it appears, is not anywhere on the horizon and for now, a holding pattern continues as the farmers show no signs of losing their resolve. This makes it our top pick of the day.

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