After Centre’s Climbdown, Farmers Announce “Sansad Chalo” On Nov 29
Farmer leaders decided to send an open letter to PM Narendra Modi, raising pending demands, the most notable being a legislation to guarantee MSP
New Delhi: Emboldened by the Centre’s climbdown on three contentious farm laws, farmers’ front Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) today met at Singhu border and decided on a series of upcoming programmes, including a march to parliament on November 29 — when the houses meet for Winter Session.
In their first meeting after the Prime Minister’s announcement, farmer leaders decided to send an open letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, raising their pending demands, the most notable being a central legislation to guarantee a Minimum Support Price (MSP).
Despite the Prime Minister’s announcement that the three farm laws, against which the farmers have been agitating for a year now, will be withdrawn, the farmers have asserted that their protest will continue till the laws are officially withdrawn. Besides a law on MSP, they have also demanded withdrawal of the police cases filed against many of them over the last year.
A statement issued by SKM today said that a Kisan Mahapanchayat will be held in Lucknow tomorrow, a Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Diwas will be observed on prominent British India politician Sir Chhotu Ram’s birth anniversary on November 24, a march to Delhi borders will be organised on November 26 and a march to Parliament on November 29.
The farmers’ front has called another meeting on November 27 to review the situation.
At today’s meeting, the SKM lauded the Telangana government’s decision to financially support the families of the farmers who died during the agitation, “while Mr Narendra Modi or his govt does not acknowledge the heavy and avoidable sacrifices made by around 700 brave farmers”.
In a counter to the Prime Minister’s remark that there may be something lacking in the government’s “tapasya” that they could not “explain the truth” about the laws to some farmers, the SKM said it was the protesting farmers “who did the true tapasya with faith”.
“These annadaatas have taken the historic movement to the cusp of a historic first victory with their tapasya and are steadily taking this towards full victory, which will actually be a victory for democracy itself. This victory is not a question of someone’s pride or ego, but a matter of lives and livelihoods of millions of ignored and marginalised Indians,” it said, asserting that their movement is bigger than a farmers’ agitation.
