NEW DELHI: Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) urged farmers on Thursday to participate in national "March to Raj Bhawans" programmes and deliver a note to the President through the appropriate Governors on November 26.
The SKM National Council met earlier on November 14 at Gurudwara Rakabganj and strongly denounced the Modi government for betraying the farmers by failing to carry out the written promises made on December 9, 2021, including the withdrawal of the Electricity Bill and a legally guaranteed MSP, among other demands.
The meeting resolved to advise all participating organisations to be ready to step up the fight nationwide. The farmers' protest has entered its next phase with the "March to Raj Bhawans."
Also, it urged farmers all around the nation to participate in ongoing, determined national battles until the government complies with all demands, including "Karz Mukti - Poora Daam" (Freedom from Indebtedness and Full Remunerative Price). Since the implementation of neo-liberal policies that exacerbated the agrarian crisis and peasant suicides, farmers have been campaigning for two fundamental demands: legally guaranteed MSP for all crops and freedom from debt.
In India, more than 4 lakh farmers have committed suicide since 1995, and 68% of peasant households are in debt or another financial difficulty. These demands, together with those for the repeal of three agricultural laws that favoured corporations and the Electricity Bill 2020, sparked a year-long historic farmers' agitation at the Delhi borders beginning on November 26, 2020, which received active support from almost all groups of Indian workers.
The withdrawal of the Electricity Amendment Bill 2022, legal action against the accused Lakhimpur Kheri farmer and journalist Ajay Mishra Teni, dismissal from his position as Union Minister of State for Home Affairs, and a comprehensive and efficient crop insurance programme are among the other demands made by farmers.
This afternoon, the morcha conducted a news conference at which Darshan Pal, Hannan Mollah, Yudhvir Singh, Avik Saha, and Ashok Dhawale spoke. The following meeting, where the movement's next phase will be decided and announced, is slated for December 8 in Karnal.
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