‘Won’t Compromise Interests of Farmers’: Bhupinder Mann Recuses Himself From SC-appointed Panel

Is a statement, Mann said he is thankful to the apex court for nominating him on the committee but would sacrifice any position offered to him so as not to compromise the interests of farmers.

New Delhi: Not willing to compromise with the interest of the farmers, Bhartiya Kisan Union president Bhupinder Singh Mann, who was one of the four members of the Supreme Court-appointed committee on farm laws, said on Thursday that he is recusing himself from the panel.

Is a statement, Mann said he is thankful to the apex court for nominating him on the committee but would sacrifice any position offered to him so as not to compromise the interests of farmers.

Taking to Twitter, Bhartiya Kisan Union said, “Bhupinder Singh Mann Ex-MP and national president of BKU and chairman of All India Kisan Coordination Committee has recused himself from the four-member committee constituted by the Hon’ble Supreme Court.”

The BKU also tweeted an unsigned text statement purportedly issued by Mann. “I am thankful to the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India for nominating me in the four-member committee to start dialogue with kisan unions on the three laws brought in by the central government. As a farmer myself and a union leader, in view of the prevailing sentiments and apprehensions amongst the farm unions and the public in general, I am ready to sacrifice any position offered or given to me so as to not compromise the interests of Punjab and farmers of the country,” the statement reads.

On Wednesday, the protesting farmers burnt copies of the contentious farm laws to mark the festival of Lohri, while a farmer union gave a call for massive mobilisation of people from all districts within a radius of 300 kilometres of Delhi for the proposed ‘Kisan Parade’ on January 26.

Nearly one lakh copies of the three agri laws were burnt at the Singhu border alone on Wednesday, claimed Paramjeet Singh of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha.

The All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee appealed to farmers to assemble in large numbers at the Delhi borders a day before for the proposed parade on Republic Day.

The move from the farmers comes a day after the farmer unions announced that they would not appear before the committee formed by the Supreme Court to resolve the deadlock over the contentious farm laws.

While eight rounds of negotiations so far between the government and a representative-group of thousands of farmers protesting against the three farm laws have failed to resolve the crisis, the Supreme Court on Tuesday stayed the implementation of the three Acts till further orders and set up a four-member committee to end the impasse.