A day after fasting farmer leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal agreed to take medical aid after a delegation from the Centre invited protesting farmers for talks next month, a group of 121 farmers who began an indefinite fast at Khanauri since January 15 in solidarity ended their hunger strike on Sunday. In another relief for the Centre, the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), which was at the forefront of the farmers’ agitation in 2020, deferred its plan to hold protests outside the offices and residences of BJP MPs and senior leaders on January 20. Also, Dallewal’s SKM (Non-Political) and the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM), which met the central delegation headed by Union Agriculture Ministry Joint Secretary Priya Ranjan on Saturday, said they will decide on Monday whether they will go ahead with the plan to send a fourth group of 101 farmers towards the Shambhu border on January 22. The previous attempts by the protesting farmers, who are demanding legal guarantee to minimum support price for crops, among other things, to enter Haryana from Punjab were thwarted by the Haryana administration. Dallewal has been on a hunger strike since November 26 last year at Khanauri border in support of the farmers’ demands. After the government delegation met him on Saturday, Dallewal agreed to take medical aid but made it clear that he won't break his fast until the farmers' demands are met. Intravenous fluids were administered to him around midnight. On Sunday, Kaka Singh Kotra, general secretary of Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) Sidhupur, confirmed that the 121 farmers who were on a hunger strike at Khanauri border in a show of solidarity with Dallewal, broke their fast. “A total of 111 farmers from Punjab sat on a hunger strike from January 15 in support of Jagjit Singh Dallewal and the next day 10 more farmers from Haryana joined them. On Saturday night, on their appeal Dallewalji had taken medical assistance. After Dallewalji started taking medical assistance, we asked them to end their hunger strike as their demand was fulfilled. All the 121 farmers were offered orange juice Sunday afternoon and they lifted the hunger strike,” Kotra said. “This is a big victory of our struggle as the government had to finally blink,” he said. A Punjab government official, who visited Khanauri Sunday, said, “Dallewal has started taking medical assistance while the 121 farmers have ended the hunger strike. The immense stress at the Khanauri border point has reduced since the farmers used to remain worried about health of Dallewal and the others who were on fast. Sunday came as a relief day after weeks.” However, the official said, Dallewal's health is under watch as he was not taking food. Abhimanyu Kohar, a leader of SKM (Non-Political), said, “Dallewal's hunger strike entered day 55 on Sunday but his intravenous fluids were started around midnight and he was feeling better on Sunday.” “Late night, he vomited 3-4 times and was getting dehydrated. However, he accepted medical assistance only after the letter came for the next round of talks (between the farmers and the government),” Kohar said. The Centre has invited the protesting farmers for talks in Chandigarh on February 14. Although he welcomed the move to resume talks, Punjab Agriculture Minister Gurmeet Singh Khuddian said Sunday that the meeting should be held earlier in view of Dallewal's health. “It is a welcome step that the Central government has come forward for talks with the farmers. However, I am surprised why February 14 has been kept as the date of this meeting. Union ministers can always come to Chandigarh to resume talks at the earliest. Dallewalji hasn't ended his hunger strike yet and hence it is not justified to let him wait so long for talks to resume,” Khuddian told The Indian Express. “I appeal to the Union Agriculture Minister to organise talks within this week and they shouldn't delay it any further,” he said. “In the past, I had written to Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan twice for resuming the talks and once raised the issue in a meeting of Agriculture Ministers as well. I will write to him again to bring forward the meeting date and also to accept the demands of the farmers.” Meanwhile, the KMM and SKM (Non-Political), which have been protesting at Shambhu and Khanauri border points, will hold a meeting Monday to decide whether a fourth jatha of 101 farmers will be sent to cross the Shambhu border point into Haryana on a foot march to Delhi on January 22 – as announced on January 17. The previous three attempts were made on December 6, December 8 and December 14. Tejveer Singh, spokesperson for BKU Shaheed Bhagat Singh Haryana - a constituent of KMM – said: “We will decide about the January 22 programme on Monday after a meeting. In addition, we are worried about Dallewalji as without food, his health is still at a risk.” Meanwhile, Dr Darshan Pal, member, SKM national coordination committee, announced that the plan to hold sit-ins in front of offices and residences of BJP MPs and senior leaders Monday has been deferred. “We welcome the decision of fasting farmer leader Dallewal to receive medical support and wish him quick recovery and good health,” he said. “In view of the positive development regarding the health of Dallewal, the SKM calls upon all units to send out memorandum to MPs through email instead of holding Kisan Dharna outside their offices on January 20.,” he said. On January 24, the SKM will hold a general body meeting in Delhi to work towards unity of the protesting farmer unions. Sources said 6 members each from the SKM (Non-Political), KMM and SKM were likely to participate for the talks with the Centre if the unity plans work out.
