A group of 121 farmers, who were on a hunger strike since January 15 in solidarity with farm leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal, ended their fast on Sunday, The Indian Express reported.

This came a day after Dallewal, who has been on a hunger strike since November 26, agreed to medical aid after receiving an invitation from the Union government for talks in February.

“On Saturday night, on their appeal Dallewal ji had taken medical assistance,” said Kaka Singh Kotra, the general secretary of Bharatiya Kisan Union Sidhupur. “After Dallewal ji started taking medical assistance, we asked them [the farmers] to end their hunger strike as their demand was fulfilled.”

The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) also postponed its plan to protest outside the offices and homes of Bharatiya Janata Party MPs on Monday.

The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) and the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha will decide on Monday whether to send a fourth group of 101 farmers to the Shambhu border between Haryana and Punjab on January 22.

Dallewal has been on an indefinite fast at Khanauri, located on the Punjab-Haryana border. The group of 121 farmers were also fasting at the same site.

The hunger strike by Dallewal is part of a wider campaign to press the Union government to accept farmers’ demand for legally guaranteed minimum support prices. The minimum support price is the rate at which the government procures crops from farmers.

Besides a legal guarantee for minimum support prices, the farmers have also been demanding the implementation of the MS Swaminathan Commission’s wider recommendations for farming in India, pensions for farmers and farm labourers, a farm debt waiver, the reinstatement of the 2013 Land Acquisition Act and justice for victims of the 2021 Lakhimpur Kheri violence.

The farmers have alleged that the Union government has not taken steps to address their demands, claiming that no talks have been held since February 2024.

Since then, they have been camping at the Shambhu and Khanauri state borders, under the banner of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) and the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha.

The breakthrough on Saturday came after a delegation from the Union agriculture ministry, led by Joint Secretary Priya Ranjan, met Dallewal and the representatives of the farmers’ groups.

After the meeting, Ranjan read out a proposal inviting farmers for a meeting on February 14 in Chandigarh, The Indian Express reported. The invitation was addressed to Dallewal and Sarwan Singh Pandher, the coordinator of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) and the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha.

Dallewal’s health was being closely monitored as he continued his hunger strike even after 54 days, the newspaper reported.

Abhimanyu Kohar, a leader of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political), said that Dallewal was given intravenous fluids at midnight on Saturday and was feeling better the next day, The Indian Express reported.

Punjab Agriculture Minister Gurmeet Singh Khuddian welcomed the Union government’s decision to invite the protesting farmers for talks. But, citing concerns relating to Dallewal’s health, Khuddian said that the meeting should be held sooner.

Next protest against NPFAM

Meanwhile, both Samyukta Kisan Morcha and Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) have decided to jointly protest against the Union government’s draft National Policy Framework on Agricultural Marketing.

The farmers’ groups alleged that the Union government was attempting to reintroduce through the National Policy Framework on Agricultural Marketing the three contentious farm laws that had been withdrawn in late 2021, The Hindu reported.

The groups described the proposal as a plan to transfer control of agricultural land, farming, the food supply chain and national food security to a few corporate entities.

The general body of the farmers’ forums will meet in Delhi on Friday “at which point further agitational programmes and action plans shall be announced, they said.