Farmers’ unions protesting against the three new agri-marketing laws have accepted the Centre’s offer to hold a dialogue and end the deadlock over the issue.

Sanyukt Kisan Morcha, an umbrella body of 40 farmer unions on Saturday wrote to the government asking it to hold talks on December 29.

In a letter to Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Vivek Aggarwal, the Morcha said, “We propose that the next meeting between the farmers' representatives and the Government of India be held on December 29 2020 at 11 am.”

“As the government is willing to hold talks with us and asking us for a date and our issues, we have proposed to hold a dialogue on December 29. Now, the ball is in the court of government when it calls us for talks,” Bhartiya Kisan Union leader Rakesh Tikait told PTI.

The unions reiterated that repealing the three contentious laws and legal guarantee for MSP should be part of the agenda for the talks with the Centre.

According to the letter, the agenda proposed by the protesting unions includes amendments to be made and notified in the Commission for the Air Quality Management in National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas Ordinance, 2020 to exclude farmers from its penal provisions.

The farmer unions also demanded that changes in the draft Electricity Amendment Bill 2020 to protect the interests of farmers should also be part of the agenda for the next round of dialogue.

Earlier this week, Aggarwal had written to the 40 protesting unions and invited them for fresh talks, but made it clear that it would not be "logical" to include in the agenda any new demand related to the MSP, which is out of the purview of the three new farm laws.

“Unfortunately, your (Aggarwal's) letter continues the government's attempt to mislead the public by suppressing true facts about the deliberations in the previous meetings. We have consistently demanded the repeal of the three Central Farm Acts, whereas the government has distorted our position as if we were asking for amendments to these Acts,” the letter said.

“If you are sincere about respectfully listening to the farmers, as you say in your letter, the government must not indulge in misinformation about the previous meetings. The campaign launched by the entire state machinery to defame and malign the farmers' movement must stop forthwith,” the Sankyukta Kisan Morcha said in its letter.

At the press conference, farmer leader Darshan Pal said that it was also decided that farmers will hold a tractor march on the Kundli-Manesar-Palwal (KMP) highway on December 30 in protest against the Centre's agri laws.

“We request people from Delhi and other parts of the country to come and celebrate New Year with protesting farmers,” Pal said.

Another farmer leader, Rajinder Singh, said, "We will march from Singhu to Tikri to KMP. We ask farmers from surrounding states to come in huge numbers in their trolleys and tractors. If the government doesn't want us to block the KMP highway, then they better announce the repeal of the three farm laws."

The move comes after the organisations held meetings on Friday and Saturday to decide on the Centre’s offer of holding talks to resolve the impasse over the situation at the borders of Delhi, where farmers have been protesting for a month now.

The decision also comes a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a strong attack on the Opposition, said that it was misleading the farmers for “political reasons”.

He firmly defended the farm laws, asserting that the government was ready for talks “with an open heart”, provided that the dialogue was factual and logical.

“I want to tell also those who are opposing us that the government is in favour of farmers and that it is ready for discussions, provided that the talks are based on sound arguments and facts,” Modi said.

However, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury on Saturday said there is “no confidence” in the words of the BJP-led government, referring to Modi’s assurance that the laws would be beneficial to farmers.

“There is no confidence in Modi government's assurances for discussions with farmers since these bills were passed without any prior discussion and by preventing a vote in the House. No confidence in whatever they say. The PM claimed today that some money had been released. But this is part of a pre-poll ongoing scheme,” he tweeted.

Meanwhile, more farmers from Maharashtra and Punjab are on their way to join the protests at Delhi and make them even stronger.

Following Modi’s steps, Union defence minister Rajnath Singh on Friday urged protesting farmers to try the three new farm laws as an ‘experiment’ for a year or two, assuring that the government will bring in necessary amendments if they are not found beneficial.

“For once let this act (acts) be implemented, for a year or two... Try this experiment and if you feel that this act (acts) is not in the interest of farmers, then I can say you this with conviction as I know the intention of our Prime Minister Narendra Modi we will do all necessary amendments in it,” the former BJP president said at a rally in Delhi.