The bonhomie between the government and the unions had visibly reduced compared to the last meeting on 30 December, during which the ministers partook of the langar brought for the farmers by the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee. This didn’t happen this time, as the farmers sat on the floor and ate the langar that the DSGMC had brought for them, while the government had the official lunch.
Also the meeting wasn’t preceded by public pronouncements of a thaw from the governments’ side, as had happened with Rajnath Singh and Som Parkash’s statements in the run-up to the sixth round of talks.
In the sixth round of talks, the government did say that they would provide exemptions to farmers in the Electricity Act and on the matter of stubble burning.
But it was clearly in a much less conciliatory mood this time, with its adamant refusal to even begin discussing the repeal of the three laws.
However, this is not unexpected.
The Quint had earlier reported that there is a fundamental…