India: After SC order, farmers should end protest: Khattar

 Manohar Lal Khattar

Chandigarh, Jan 12 (PTI) Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Tuesday said the farmers protesting at Delhi's borders should end their agitation now following the formation of a committee by the Supreme Court over the new farm laws.

The ball is now in the court of the SC and I feel whatever is its decision, it will be acceptable to all, he said, welcoming the SC order.

The Supreme Court stayed till further orders the implementation the three central agri-marketing laws over which farmers from Punjab and Haryana have been protesting for weeks.

The court also announced the formation of a four-member committee to resolve the deadlock over the new laws between the Centre and farmers' unions.

On the farmer unions' refusal to call off their protest after the SC order, Khattar said there was no reason now for them to continue with it.

He said the farmers should lift their dharna' at Delhi's border and head back to the places they had come from.

Khattar has been targeted by farmer unions for supporting the new laws enacted at the Centre in September.

On Sunday, protesters in Karnal vandalised the venue of the kisan mahapanchayat the chief minister had planned to address in support of the laws.

Also, a section of the MLAs from the Jannayak Janta Party, which is the BJP's partner in Haryana's ruling coalition, have opposed the central laws.

The four members of the SC-appointed committee are Bhartiya Kisan Union's Bhupinder Singh Mann, Shetkeri Sangthana's Anil Ghanwat, International Food Policy Research Institute's Pramod Kumar Joshi and agriculture economist Ashok Gulati.

Farmers protesting outside Delhi are demanding the repeal of the laws and a legal guarantee on minimum support price (MSP) for their crops.