Chandigarh: Acceding to the request of Punjab farmers protesting at the Khanauri and Shambhu border points, the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) on Sunday advanced from January 15 to 13 the proposed meeting for deciding on a joint fight. The move came a day after the SKM (Non-Political) and Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM) wrote to the SKM to hold the meeting on January 12 or 13 in the wake of "deteriorating" health of fasting farmer leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal.
A six-member committee of SKM, which visited the Khanauri protest site on Friday, had invited the SKM (Non-Political) and KMM for a meeting on January 15 in Patiala for unity among farmer bodies for a joint fight against the Centre to press for acceptance of farmers' demands including a legal guarantee to minimum support price for crops.
The SKM, which had led the 2020 agitation against the now-repealed three farm laws, is not part of the ongoing agitation of the SKM (Non-Political) and the KMM. In a letter to the SKM (Non-Political) and the KMM on Sunday, the SKM said after considering the request of protesting farmers in a meeting of its national coordination committee, it has been decided that the meeting will now be held on January 13 at 11 am in Patran in Patiala district.
The meeting will discuss details of how to carry out a joint struggle by all the three platforms, it said. Dallewal, who is the convener of the SKM (Non-Political), has been on the indefinite hunger strike at the Khanauri border point between Punjab and Haryana since November 26 last year over farmers' various demands. Dallewal, whose fast-unto-death entered 48th day on Sunday, has so far refused to take any medical aid.
The six-member panel of the SKM, which comprised farmer leaders Balbir Singh Rajewal, Darshan Pal, Joginder Singh Ugrahan, Raminder Singh Patiala, Jangveer Singh and Krishna Prasad, had inquired about the health of Dallewal on Friday. The visit of the SKM leaders to the Khanauri protest site came a day after it passed a "unity resolution" at 'Kisan Mahapanchayat' in Moga, calling for a joint fight against the Union government over the demands.
The attempts for unity between SKM, SKM (Non-Political) and KMM had failed in February last year. The fresh dialogue for unity resumed in December last year after Dallewal sat on an indefinite fast.
Farmers, under the banner of SKM (Non-Political) and Kisan Mazdoor Morcha, have been camping at the Shambhu and Khanauri border points between Punjab and Haryana since February 13 last year, after their march to Delhi was stopped by security forces.
