Many Parties Debating Bills But Not Raising Farmers’ Issue: SKM

The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) on Thursday said many political parties are participating in debates in Parliament on various bills but are not raising their demands, and warned them against taking “anti-people” positions.

“The SKM is taking note of the various political parties and their Parliamentarians with regard to the people’s whip issued by it to the MPs. It is seeing that parties like BJD, TRS, YSRCP, AIADMK, TDP and JDU have been participating in debates on various Bills, or have acted against the people’s whip. The SKM warns them against anti-people positions, and reminds all parties about the people’s whip already issued,” it said in a statement.

SKM, the umbrella body of 40 farmers’ unions spearheading the protest against the Centre’s three agri laws, had on July 14 issued a ‘peoples’ whip’, directing all MPs to raise the demands of the agitating farmers—repeal of the three farm laws and a legal guarantee of receiving minimum support price (MSP)—in Parliament.

Meanwhile, the farmers at the ongoing ‘Kisan Sansad’ at Jantar Mantar, which completed its 11th day on Thursday, continued their deliberations on their demand of making remunerative Minimum Support Price (MSP) a legal entitlement of all farmers and for all agricultural commodities.

It also passed a resolution directing the government to immediately table a bill that will fully address the current injustice in terms of “cost calculations, MSP formula and guaranteed MSP operationalisation”.

“Such a statute should cover all agricultural commodities and all farmers. The ‘Kisan Sansad’ also directed the Government of India to ensure that any future arrangements made for MSP legalisation should not curtail or be lower than the best level of procurement in the past five years in each state, respectively, for various commodities,” it noted.

The ‘Kisan Sansad’ is being organised by the agitating unions at a time when the country’s Parliament is holding its monsoon session.

As part of the ‘Kisan Sansad’ sessions, 200 farmers from the protest sites participate in the mock Parliament session, during which issues concerning the farming community are discussed.

According to the SKM, contingents of farmers from different states, including Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka, have been coming to the national capital to join the protest, the latest being a group of farmers from Tamil Nadu.

“A large contingent of 1,000 farmers affiliated to AIKS Tamil Nadu reached Delhi on Thursday. These farmers will stay at Singhu Border for seven days to strengthen the all-India struggle,” it claimed.

Scores of farmers led by the SKM have been camping at Delhi’s border points of Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur since November last year.

The farmers have expressed fear that the central agri laws could lead to elimination of the MSP system and leave them at the mercy of big corporations. The government has maintained that the MSP and the ‘mandi’ system will stay.

Over 10 rounds of talks with the government, that has been projecting the laws as major agricultural reforms, have failed to break the deadlock between the two parties.