“In Punjab, Ugrahan group is seen quite dedicated at grassroots level with large base and that was why government is doing so and it is the time all farmers unions focus on to staying united come what may,” said Prof Kesar Singh Bhangu, a farm issues expert and professor of Economics at Punjabi University, Patiala. One of the professor in the Punjab Agriculture University (PAU), Ludhiana, said that by inviting Ugrahan group first and then leaving the same in the next meet, government seems to aware about what it is doing. The BKU leader said that this is “one of its kind agitation and government must not live under any illusion”. “All unions have their own ideologies and that is why they are separate unions, but they are united on this issue of three agri laws and MSP without any ego clash because it is the matter of life and death for the entire farming community,” he said, adding that earlier also they fought joint as well as separate fights on the farmers’ issues. They had given the befitting reply to the Union government that their demand is not to make amendment in these laws but to cancel these and give Minimum Support Price ( MSP) to the farmers,” said BKU (Ugrahan) general secretary Sukhdev Singh Kokrikalan, adding that government should invite the representatives of all the unions even for informal talks but government is trying to play ‘pick and choose’ for reasons best known to it. ![]() ![]() “Although we were not invited for that informal talk but still those who attended that meet they are part of a united front and all are with us. But all unions have kept the farming issues at the forefront and put their ideological differences aside. Out of 30 farmers’ organisations, which have different ideologies and leanings, around 23 are apolitical in nature and remaining 8 have affiliations towards Left parties, SAD and Congress. Then on Tuesday (December 8) ahead of the sixth round of talks on December 9, which could not take place Wednesday, the government invited leaders of farm unions except BKU (Ugrahan) to meet Union Home Minister Amit Shah. On November 26, the government only invited BKU (Ugrahan), which is the largest farm union of Punjab, but the Ugrahan group president Joginder Singh Ugrahan refused to attend the meet without the leaders of 30 organisations. In the past two weeks, the Union government had invited leaders of farm unions for informal talks on more than one occasion. They added that farmers leaders are “well aware of the divisive policies of the government and they are treading carefully in this historic protest”. However, experts who have tracked farmer agitations over the years feel that the government will not succeed in any such attempt even if it tries. A day after the Union Home Minister held informal talks with some farmer outfits, an apprehension is gaining ground among protesting farmers that government is trying to create divisions among the stir’s leadership which has so far displayed unprecedented unity.
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