New Delhi: Farmers at various border points in and around the national capital, protesting against the contentious agricultural laws passed by the Centre, have taken to a novel approach to gather momentum for their movement.
The members of a farmers' group, part of the agitation at Singhu border, have urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take back the farm laws. They have expressed their appeal with letters written in their blood.
The farmers had donated blood at a camp set up at the protest site at the Singhu border and later used the blood to pen a letter to Prime Minister Modi, urging the repeal of the contentious farm laws.
The letter reads: "Good morning, Mr. Narendra Modi. We are writing this letter with our blood. You are the Prime Minister of our country, elected by our votes. By passing these three laws, the farmers have been betrayed. We request of you to take back these laws."
The letter, written in farmers' blood | Photo via Twitter
Farmers show a letter, written with their blood, to be sent to the Prime Minister during the agitation against farm reform laws, at Singhu Border in New Delhi. | PTI
Meanwhile, protesting farmer unions on Tuesday said that a decision on the central government's offer for fresh talks has been deferred to Wednesday, even as they remained adamant on the demand to repeal the three farm laws.
Five rounds of formal talks between the government and these unions have failed to break the deadlock as farmers are insisting on the repeal of the three laws and are camping at various border points of Delhi for nearly four weeks now.
The sixth round of talks on December 9 was cancelled following a deadlock with the farmer unions refusing to budge from their demand for repealing the three laws.
Thousands of farmers are currently staying put at Delhi's borders with Haryana and Uttar Pradesh in protest against the Farmers' Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.
They have expressed apprehension that these laws would pave the way for the dismantling of the minimum support price system, leaving them at the "mercy" of big corporations.
However, the government has maintained that the new laws will bring farmers better opportunities and usher in new technologies in agriculture.
