Centre Reneged On Promises To Farmers: SKM

The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) on Sunday expressed its disappointment against the Union government and accused the Centre of completely reneging on the written promises made to the farmers when the protest was lifted on December 9 last year.

Three important decisions regarding the farmers’ movement were taken at the national meet of representatives of all the farmers’ organizations associated with the SKM, held in Ghaziabad on Sunday.

In a statement issued by the SKM, the farmers’ body claimed that neither the committee on Minimum Support Price (MSP) has been formed, nor the “false” cases registered against the farmers during the agitation been withdrawn.

It also accused the government of not being ready to consider the biggest demand of the farmers — a legal guarantee on MSP.

In protest against this alleged “betrayal” by the government, “Protest Against Betrayal” public meetings will be organized at district level, from the beginning of the monsoon session of Parliament on July 18 till July 31 — the martyrdom day of Shaheed Udham Singh — across the country, the SKM said in its statement.

The SKM has also announced that at the end of this campaign, on July 31, a chakka jam of all the major highways across the country will be organized from 11 am to 3 pm.

It has also been decided in the meet that the farm organizations will mobilize unemployed youth and ex-servicemen against the Agnipath military recruitment scheme, which is “anti-national and anti-youth as well as anti-farmer”.

“To expose the Agnipath scheme, ‘Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan’ conferences will be organized across the country from August 7 to August 14, in which ex-servicemen and unemployed youth will also be invited,” the statement read.

On the 75th anniversary of Independence, a 75-hour mass dharna will be held in Lakhimpur Kheri from August 18 to August 20, demanding sacking of Union Minister of State for Home Ajay Mishra, it stated.

Eight people, including four farmers, were killed in Lakhimpur Kheri during the violence that erupted when farmers were protesting against Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya’s visit to the area on October 3 last year.

Union minister Ajay Mishra Teni’s son Ashish Mishra is an accused in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence case. (PTI)