SKM accuses govt of not keeping promises, plans nationwide protests

The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) on Sunday condemned the Union government for not fulfilling the promises made to farmers when the year-long protests against the controversial farm laws were withdrawn on December 9 (2021).

It accused the government of neither forming a committee on MSP nor withdrawing cases registered against farmers and also not providing them with a legal guarantee of minimum support price.

A national meeting of representatives of all the farmers’ organizations associated with SKM was held in Ghaziabad on Sunday.

In a statement, they said they would organise “Protest Against Betrayal” in 500 districts for obtaining a legal guarantee of minimum support price.

During the protest, public meetings will be organised at the district level all across the country, from the beginning of the monsoon session of Parliament on July 18 till July 31. The campaign will end on the martyrdom day of Sardar Udham Singh (July 31). Following this, a chakka jam of all the major highways across the country will be organised from 11:00 am to 3:00 pm.

The statement further read that care would be taken so that the programme doesn’t cause any inconvenience to the public.

SKM will also organise conferences “Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan” against the new ‘Agnipath’ scheme, which it called ‘anti-national’, ‘anti-youth’ and ‘anti-farmer’. Conferences will be held across the country from August 7 to 14 to which ex-servicemen and unemployed youth will also be invited.

As per the statement, the organisation will also hold a 75-hour mass ‘dharna’ on the occasion of Independence day, in Lakhimpur Kheri on August 18, 19, and 20, demanding the sacking of Ajay Mishra Teni in the Lakhimpur violence case.

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In the meeting held on Sunday, the farmers’ body condemned the slapping of false cases against farmers leader Ashish Mittal in Allahabad and Uttar Pradesh, lathi-charge on farmers protesting against the Adani’s high-voltage wire in Farakka and Bengal, and repression of protesting farmers in Chhattisgarh.

The farmers also condemned the arrests of social activists and journalists such as Teesta Setalvad, RB Sreekumar, and Muhammad Zubair which indicates increasing repression of the democratic rights across the country.

The statement read: “Samyukta Kisan Morcha stands with all these activists and organizations in this democratic struggle.”

As per the statement, about 200 delegates from 15 states of the country participated in the meeting. On the issue of Punjab elections, 16 organizations which were suspended from Samyukta Kisan Morcha, were re-admitted to the Morcha. It was also decided that the organization will expel the “Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangh” headed by Chandrasekhar Kodihalli from the Samyukta Kisan Morcha.