Will boycott May 4 talks if Punjab invited: Farmer leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal

CHandigarh, james leonard farmer leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal sun said the farmers testament be forced to boycott the May 4 talks with the Centre if they pay for the representatives from the Punjab regime, which earlier removed the agitators camping at two of its border points. The farmers received a formal invite for the talk from the Centre earlier this week. "We received a letter from the Union Agriculture Ministry in which we have been invited for the May 4 meeting. It has been mentioned in the letter that the representatives from the Centre as well as Punjab government will be present in the meeting," Dallewal said in a video message. Dallewal is a senior leader of a joint forum of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha and the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha , which spearheaded the agitation at the Shambhu and Khanauri border points. SKM and KMM also wrote a letter to Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Sunday, urging him not to invite representatives of the Punjab government to the meeting in Chandigarh. On March 19, Punjab Police cracked down on farmers, detaining their leaders in Mohali when they were returning from a meeting with a central delegation led by Chouhan in Chandigarh. The detainees were later released. Last month, Punjab Police evicted farmers and dismantled temporary structures from the Shambhu and Khanauri border points where they had been sitting in for more than year. "We understand that the solution to any issue can be found through dialogue. We have always favoured a dialogue... But the way Punjab authorities arrested farmer leaders and evicted us from the morchas has angered farmers across the country," Dallewal said. "We request the Centre that we are ready for talks, but Punjab government representatives should not be invited for the May 4 meeting. If they still invite them, then we will be forced to boycott that meeting … We will await Centre's response in this regard," he said. Dallewal embarked on his hunger strike on November 26 last year to press the Centre to accept the farmers' demands, one of which is a minimum support price for their crops. He ended his fast-unto-death more than a fortnight after Punjab Police cracked down on agitating farmers. In their letter to Chouhan, the two farmers' collective advocated for peace through talks. "Our last meeting was held in a cordial atmosphere in Chandigarh on March 19, at the end of which the next meeting was fixed for May 4, but after the meeting of March 19 was over, the Punjab government deceitfully arrested the farmer leaders and sent them to jail and tried to suppress the farmer morchas at the Shambhu and Khanauri," the letter read. "By doing this, the Punjab government has insulted the farmers by hurting their self-respect, which has angered the farmers across the country," it read further. The meeting was attended by Consumer Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi and Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal, besides Chouhan. Punjab government was represented by Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema, Agriculture Minister Gurmeet Singh Khuddian, and Food and Civil Supplies minister Lal Chand Kataruchak. It was the seventh round of the meeting with the central government since February last year. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.