Farmers to observe fast, send messages to PM till demands met

Five farmers from each Uttar Pradesh village will fast for eight hours daily and send messages to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, seeking withdrawal of the three farm laws and legal guarantee for MSP, Rashtriya Kisan Mazdoor Sangathan (RKMS) president V M Singh said.

New Delhi: Seeking withdrawal of the three farm laws and legal guarantee for MSP, Rashtriya Kisan Mazdoor Sangathan (RKMS) on Tuesday announced that farmers from each Uttar Pradesh village will fast for eight hours daily and send messages to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Reportedly, the RKMS had withdrawn its support from the ongoing farmers' agitation against the three contentious central laws following the violence in Delhi on Republic Day. It joined 21 other farmer outfits on Sunday to form the Uttar Pradesh Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (UPKMM).

Speaking to ETV Bharat reporter, RKMS president V M Singh said "More than 85 per cent of the country's farmers are small and medium farmers who do not have the capacity to reach Delhi. Most of these farmers go through daily wages after sowing in their fields. At the same time, farmers also have animals, which they cannot take care of by reaching the fronts of Delhi."

"Five farmers from each village in Uttar Pradesh will observe a fast from 9 AM to 5 PM. At 3 pm, these farmers will record two-minute messages, introducing themselves to Prime Minister Modi and sharing their grievances on the new farms' laws, which will be uploaded on our website," Singh said.

"This will continue till the time farmers from each and every village get the decided minimum support price (MSP) for their wheat crop," he added.

When Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that MSP is, was and will continue to be certified in the current crop purchase, then we had decided to hold a silent protest. There are 65,000 panchayats in Uttar Pradesh, and even if 20,000 villages from among them take part in the movement, one lakh messages would be sent to the prime minister every day, the farmer leader claimed.

"The count will go up to 30,00,000 for a month. This is when we are thinking of only 20,000 villages. Imagine what will happen if 50,000 villages join us. Will PM Modi then also say that the messages coming from the villages are not from farmers," he asked.

Also, to make the movement successful and promote brotherhood between farmers, every household in a village will be requested to donate a fistful of grains, which will then be used to prepare a ''langar'' once a week, Singh added.