SKM announces next phase of farmers' movement in April demanding MSP guarantee

Pic for representational use only

New Delhi: Samyukta Kisan Morcha, an umbrella body of the farmers union, has announced the next phase of the nationwide campaign for ‘MSP Legal Guarantee Week’ which will be observed between April 11 to 17. The farmers` body has also decided to oragnize a nationwide protest on March 21 over the role of the government in the Lakhimpur Kheri incident.

The SKM, in a statement, said that a meeting of all the organizations associated with the SKM was held on Monday at Gandhi Peace Foundation in Delhi, during which it a unanimously decision was taken about the same. 

"During this week, all the constituent organizations associated with the SKM will organize dharnas, demonstrations, seminars, demanding legal guarantee of Minimum Support Price (C2+50 per cent) as recommended by the Swaminathan Commission, to all farmers on all their agricultural produce," it said.

In the meeting, after reviewing the legal process going on in the Lakhimpur Kheri case, it was alleged that the police administration and the prosecutors together are trying to protect the criminals and implicate the farmers.

"It is a matter of surprise that in such a serious case, the son of the Union Minister got bail so soon while the farmers implicated in the same case are still in jail," SKM said assuring full legal help by the Morcha to the families of the farmers.

During the meeting, SKM reviewed the written assurances given by the Government of India to the Samyukta Kisan Morcha on December 9 and alleged that even after three months, the government had not acted upon its key assurances.

"There is no trace of the assurance of forming a committee on MSP. Except Haryana, the police cases registered against the farmers during the agitation in other states have not been withdrawn. Delhi Police has spoken of partial withdrawal of some cases but there is no concrete information about that as well. Nothing has happened about the cases registered during Rail Rokos across the country," SKM said. 

"Samyukta Kisan Morcha has decided to organize a nationwide protest on March 21, regarding the role of the government in the Lakhimpur Kheri incident, and the betrayal of the assurances given to the farmers` movement," it added. 

The Morcha reiterated that the Samyukta Kisan Morcha supports the call for Bharat Bandh by trade unions on March 28 and 29, and that farmers across the country will actively participate in it, said SKM.

Representatives of farmers` organizations from Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Bihar, Jharkhand, Assam, Tripura, Odisha, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh participated in this national meeting convened by the coordination committee of Samyukta Kisan Morcha.