Farmer unions will march to Raj Bhavans across the country today to mark two years since they began their agitation against three farm laws enacted by the Centre, which have since been repealed. According to farmer leaders, the marches will also represent farmers’ protest against the government’s failure to fulfil various promises.
Farmer leaders claimed that the government promised them in writing that it would hold a discussion and pass a law establishing a minimum support price (MSP) for crops, but that nothing has happened so far. Thousands of farmers, primarily from Punjab, Haryana, and western Uttar Pradesh, have been protesting at the national capital’s borders for over a year, demanding the repeal of the three farm laws.
In November, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the repeal of the three laws.Following that, the protest was called off.“They gave us in writing and agreed to all of our demands, but nothing has happened. The government has proven to be a traitor by defrauding the country’s farmers. They are defending the corporations.
They have demonstrated that they have no intention of meeting our demands “Hannan Mollah, leader of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), told the sources. Mollah is in Lucknow for the Saturday protest march. The SKM, a body of farmers’ unions that spearheaded the anti-agri law agitation, has also called a meeting for December 8 to decide the movement’s future course. “We’ve seen how the government is unwilling to listen to the people. We’ve started a new movement.
We’ll be holding rallies across the country tomorrow. This time, our movement is sweeping the entire country rather than just Delhi. Farmers will march to their respective states’ Raj Bhavans and hand over a governor’s memorandum “Mr. Mollah stated. The farmers’ body claimed that neither the MSP committee nor the “false” cases filed against farmers during the agitation were properly formed.
Prime Minister Modi promised to form a committee to discuss farmers’ demand for a legal guarantee on MSP when he announced the repeal of the three farm laws in November last year. The SKM has rejected the government’s MSP committee, claiming that its members are “so-called farmer leaders” who supported now-repealed farm laws and do not speak about ensuring farmers’ legal rights.
Meanwhile, SKM (Non-political) member Abhimanyu Singh Kohar stated that the government has no intention of meeting the farmers’ demands and that another movement is required. “We’ve realised the government has no intention of meeting our demands. They had previously agreed to meet our demands in order to end the protest “Kohar stated.