As the protests against the new agricultural policies entered its eighth day on Thursday, the farmer leaders once again reiterated their demands as they set out for another round of talks with the central government.The leaders from various farm unions, including Darshpal Singh, Coordination Committee (Sanyukt Kisan Morcha) left from the Singhu border for Vigyan Bhawan, where they will meet the Centre's representatives, including Union Ministers -- Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar and Railway Minister Piyush Goyal.
The protests at Singhu on the Delhi-Haryana border began after morning prayers. The security of the area has been beefed up with additional another layer more of barricading.
Speaking to IANS, Darshanpal Singh said: "We are steadfast on our earlier stand that the three 'black laws' shall be taken back and would continue to push for the same in today's meeting too.""We think that the government is still not listening to us and more pressure needs to be put on them, hence, the protests need to be scaled up," he added.
Another farmer leader said that they are quite hopeful about today's meeting and wished it would reach the conclusion they hoped for, else the protests would continue on the same pace and if need arose will get fiercer.The farmers have been sitting on protests since November 26, a day after they started their marchres from the interiors of Punjab and Haryana to the Delhi borders. Thousands of farmers have been camping at the Singhu, Tikri borders with Haryana, and Ghazipur and Chilla borders with Uttar Pradesh from a day later.