A leader of the Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee said on Friday that the Centre’s proposal to suspend the three farm laws for 18 months was like “hiding poison inside sweets”, reported ANI.

“Government’s strategy was to throw [a] net at us, to hide poison inside sweets,” SS Pandher, a leader of the union, said. “They want to end protests somehow. In our meeting, it was unanimously decided that we reject their proposal.”

Pandher was referring to the Sankyukt Kisan Morcha, an umbrella body of farm unions leading protests at several Delhi border points, which rejected the government’s proposal.

The Centre and the farm unions are holding the eleventh round of talks to resolve the deadlock over the agricultural laws. Pandher said that they will discuss the minimum support price and the repeal of the three laws in the meeting.

On Wednesday, the Narendra Modi government had agreed to suspend the implementation of the three contentious farm laws for one-and-a-half years and offered to convey it to the Supreme Court in an affidavit. During the tenth round of talks with the farmer unions, the government also offered to form a special joint committee to work out the future course of action.

The Supreme Court has already stayed the laws till further orders. The court has also formed a committee to end the stalemate. The farmers have rejected the court-appointed committee, saying that all the four members were in favour of the agricultural laws. Later, one of the members, Bhupinder Singh Mann, had stepped down.

The Centre and the unions have arrived at an agreement on two of the four demands raised by the farmers, according to the Hindustan Times. The negotiations are ongoing on the matter of MSP and withdrawal of the laws.

The farm laws

Tens of thousands of farmers have been camping out on the outskirts of Delhi for nearly 60 days, demanding the repeal of the three agricultural laws passed in September. The farmers believe that the new laws undermine their livelihood and open the path for the corporate sector to dominate agricultural.

The government, on the other hand, maintains that the new laws will give farmers more options in selling their produce, lead to better pricing, and free them from unfair monopolies. The law passed in September are meant to overhaul antiquated procurement procedures and open up the market, the government has claimed.