Chandigarh: Thirty-three farmer unions in Punjab will take part in the Samyukta Kisan Morcha's march to the governor's house on Saturday to mark the second anniversary of the agitation against the now-repealed three farm laws. The SKM had announced it would hold marches to the Raj Bhavan across the country on November 26, the day when the agitation started in 2020, over an alleged breach of assurance by the Union government on the pending demands.
Senior leaders of the SKM, a body of farmers' unions that spearheaded the agitation against the new agri laws that were repealed by the Union government later, gathered in Mohali on Thursday. They formed a committee to ensure smooth conduct of the march from Mohali to the Raj Bhavan in Chandigarh. SKM leaders, including Joginder Singh Ugrahan, Darshan Pal and Harinder Singh Lakhowal, discussed the strategy regarding the march and the memorandum that would be handed over to the governor.
The SKM leaders told reporters that the members of 33 farmers' organisations would gather at Gurdwara Sri Amb Sahib and hold a rally there before carrying out the march. The leaders accused the central government of betraying the farmers by not implementing the assurances made last year on demands like legally a guaranteed minimum support price (MSP) though almost a year has passed.
In the memorandum, there will be some more demands, including pension for farmers aged over 60 years, insurance scheme for all crops and waiving of all loans of farmers, they said. Darshan Pal accused the government of not being ready to consider the biggest demand of the farmers -- a legal guarantee on the MSP, adding that the SKM had rejected the government's committee on it. "We haven't got justice yet in last year's Lakhimpur Kheri incident," he added.
Pal said the next meeting of the SKM was scheduled on December 8 in Karnal, Haryana, in which the next phase of the movement would be decided. Replying to a question that SKM was not seen as united as it was during the stir, Pal said that it was strong and the principles would be preserved. (PTI)
