With the almost year-long deadlock between farmers and the government coming to an end in Shambhu and Khanauri on the Punjab-Haryana border over the weekend, the BJP has finally managed to get them to stand down before the protests could intensify. In February 2023, the Union government proposed an agreement on the purchase of six crops on a Minimum Support Price (MSP) for five years — cotton, maize, and pulses such as arhar, masoor, and urad — but the protesters rejected it saying it was Punjab-centric. After February 18, 2023, when the last of the four rounds of talks were held, the dialogue between the two sides broke down. However, it started to change as Samyukta Kisan Morcha-Non-Political (SKM-NP) convener Jagjit Singh Dallewal began his “indefinite” hunger strike. On Saturday, after 54 days, he agreed to receive medical treatment after Union Ministry of Agriculture joint secretary Priya Ranjan handed over a letter addressed to Dallewal and Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM) and SKM (N-P) coordinator Sarwan Singh Pandher that the government was willing to resume talks on the farmers’ 12 demands, with the meeting scheduled to be held in Chandigarh on February 14. Though Dallewal has decided to not break his fast till the demands are met, 121 farmers who had started a hunger strike in his support on January 15 ended their strike. Asked why the government had agreed to resume the dialogue after a year, BJP leaders said the talks were on through back channels always but consensus remained elusive. BJP leaders from Union Minister of State Ravneet Singh Bittu and Punjab BJP president Sunil Jakhar had been appealing to the farm unions to get back to the negotiations and Dallewal to end his hunger strike. “Who will respond to a minister like Bittu? He had called the union leaders Taliban during the Lok Sabha poll campaign last year and later even said the Centre should investigate our assets. Such people are not welcome by farmers anymore,” said Pandher. A Punjab BJP leader said political considerations might have played a role in the party pushing for the restart of the dialogue process. “Delhi polls may also have forced the party to extend the invitation to farmer unions as now they are likely to be less aggressive till February 14. The start of the hunger strike by the 121 farmers sent alarm bells ringing in the BJP high command as several of them are senior citizens with no history of sitting on hunger strikes. The government was also worried about Dallewal's declining health,” the BJP leader said on the condition of anonymity. With Dallewal still refusing to eat anything till the farmers’ demands are met, it will be difficult to keep him healthy with only medical intervention, according to doctors deputed by the Punjab government. Almost 55 of them are at the Khanauri morcha, working in three shifts. “It is a matter of great relief that Dallewal ji has started taking medical assistance and the rest 121 have also ended their hunger strike.we now urge Dallewalji to end his hunger strike as well so that he can be hale and hearty at the February 14 meeting,” Punjab BJP spokesperson Pritpal Singh Baliawal told The Indian Express. Even Sarwan Singh Pandher appealed to Dallewal to end his hunger strike." I urge you to end your hunger strike, so that you can be hale and hearty before the next round of talks.it will be difficult to stay fit only on medical assistance. Also, I appeal to union government to prepone the meeting keeping in consideration Dallewalji's health and keep the venue at Delhi instead of Chandigarh as issue is of whole India and not just Punjab," he said on Monday. The breakthrough is a win-win for the AAP as well as the Punjab government is set to be a part of the February 14 talks and its ministers and MLAs can now concentrate on the Delhi polls. Retired IPS officers Narinder Bhargav and Jaskaran Singh played a significant role from Punjab’s side, acting as intermediaries between the farm union leaders and the Punjab and Central governments. “It is a matter of great relief that Dallewalji has started taking medical assistance and talks are going to resume in February. The Punjab government was regularly been taking up the matter with the Union government that talks should always happen and finally, an invitation has come,” said AAP spokesperson Neel Garg. Punjab Agriculture Minister Gurmeet Singh Khudian said, "I urge Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan to advance the meeting as February 14 is too far." Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) general secretary Daljeet Singh Cheema criticised the “much-delayed response” from the Union government. “Now the larger onus lies on the BJP. They must honour their words and should implement all the demands to which they had agreed in principle in 2021 when farmers lifted the dharna on the Delhi border. In 2021 as well, the BJP saw the Vidhan Sabha polls coming in Punjab ahead and now they are bothered about the Delhi polls,” he said. Congress state spokesperson Arshpreet Singh Khadial targeted the Centre saying Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chouhan “must apologise to the farmers for the utter delay caused by them in the first place”. He added, “The invitation to resume talks came after 54 days of hunger strike and 11 months of farmers protest. Even after such a delay, the government hasn’t implemented the MSP, rather has invited the farmers for talks and that too after a month from today. If the BJP government can waive a debt of Rs 16 lakh crore of industrialists, why can’t it give MSP and loan waiver to farmers?”
