Rahul Gandhi takes a jibe at Centre as deadlock continues after 9th Centre-Farmer talks

As the impasse between farmers and centre continued even after the conclusion of 9th round of talks on Friday, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi took a jibe at the Centre in a poetic tweet, by saying that the Centre's intentions are not clear. As the Centre has set the date of January 15 for the 10th round of deliberations, the Wayanad MP has called it a strategy of the Centre to prolong the issue.

Taking to Twitter, the Wayanad MP said in Hindi, "Neeyat saaf nahi hai jinki, taarikh pe taarikh dena strategy hai unki" which means, "Whose intentions are not clear, giving dates after dates is their strategy."

Rahul Gandhi, who has been on a personal visit to Italy, has been tweeting against the farm laws. While the BJP has alleged that Rahul Gandhi has travelled to Italy on a vacation, the Congress has defended the Gandhi scion's foreign visit. BJP has also highlighted that Congress on multiple occasions in the past had advocated on bringing the farm laws and the party also mentioned in its 2019 election manifesto.

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9th round of deliberations

The agitating farmers' unions have been vehemently demanding the complete repeal of the three farm laws, while the Centre once again reiterated their appeal to the unions to consider amendment of the laws rather than a complete repeal. Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal and MoS Commerce Som Parkash representing the Centre during the talks categorically conveyed their message that the laws will not be repealed as several farmers across the country have expressed their support to the laws.

Addressing the media, Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar remarked, "Today, the Indian government's talks with the farmers' unions started at 2 pm. The talks were centred around the three farm laws but no decision could be taken today. The Centre insisted that it will think about any alternative put forth by the unions other than asking for the repeal of the laws. The talks came to an end as no alternatives were put forth today. The Centre and the farmers' unions have both decided that we will again hold talks at 2 pm on January 15."

Previously, a consensus was achieved between the two sides as the Centre had agreed not to penalise farmers for stubble burning and to continue the present mechanism of giving subsidy in electricity for agricultural use. The Centre had offered to have a clause wise discussion over the laws and expressed willingness to amend the laws based on inputs from the farmers, however, the protesting unions have consistently rejected the offers by the Centre.

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