New Delhi: Farmer unions’ leaders who along with thousands of their members, assembled and protesting in large numbers against the new farm laws passed in September, at various entry boarders of Delhi were today invited by the Centre without any preconditions attached for a meeting at the Vigyan Bhawan in the national capital.

Agriculture minister Narendra Tomar told reporters that although the government had earlier decided to meet the representatives of farmer unions on December 3, however considering that the farmers were in protesting in large numbers and in extreme cold weather, the government decided to prepone the meeting.

Post the invitation from the government, earlier in the day today, the farmer unions had a meeting and decided to attend the talk. Jagjit Singh Dallewal of the Bharatiya Kisan Union however said that their main demands would be that the new laws should be repealed and a new law be brought on MSP. "If the government doesn't agree, the protests will continue," he told reporters.

A committee of leaders from 32 farmer leaders attended the meetings with Tomar, his cabinet colleague Piyush Goyal and junior industry minister Som Prakash which started around 3 pm today.

The government’s stand had so far remained very firm that the farm laws will not be repealed at any cost, however they would look into the farmers demand with an open mind. 

During the meeting the ministers proposed a panel of farmers, agri experts and other stakeholders to look into the various aspects of the opposition to the bills, however considering the hard line adopted by the two sides, the meeting ended inconclusively as the farmers turn down the government’s proposal, however the next round of meeting has been scheduled on December 3.

A large number of farmers, yound and old, who are estimated to be in lakhs who started their journey to the capital five to six day ago are now camping on Delhi's entry boarders at Tikri, Burari, Singhu, Rohtak, Mathura, Sonipath, Jaipur, Ghaziabad-Hapur. Farmers are determined to continue their protest till their demands are met.

A senior citizen, farmer Ramanlal who is in has his farms in Mohali said that they have bought food and ration to last for weeks and they will not budge at any cost. "Since we started we have faced, police lathis, water cannons, barricades and this extreme cold weather yet we reached here, and we will not go back until the government considers their demand.

In related news, Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau extended his support to farmers who have been protesting against the three farm laws in India. He said that the situation was 'concerning'. The Indian government has however reacted quickly and sharply to Trudeau's statements and called the remarks as and 'unwarranted and ill-informed.'