New Delhi: Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) and the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha on Monday announced that farmers will march towards Delhi on December 6 while blaming Centre for not holding talks with them over their demands, which include a legal guarantee of MSP for crops.
Farmer leaders who took the decision here at a meeting said they were left with no option but to resume their march as the government has not reached out to them.
‘Left With No Option’
The protesting farmers have been camping at Shambhu and Khanauri border points between Punjab and Haryana since February 13, when their ‘Delhi Chalo’ march, spearheaded by the SKM (Non-Political) and the KMM, was stopped by security forces.
Addressing the media here, KMM leader Sarwan Singh Pandher said after a long wait, they have decided to head towards Delhi. “We will move towards Delhi on December 6,” he said.
“We have been left with no option. We waited peacefully for the government (to reach out) for nine months. But now we will head towards Delhi,” he added.
‘Centre Not Holding Talks With Protesting Farmers’
The farmers will move towards the national capital in batches from the Shambhu border on the Ambala-New Delhi national highway.
Tejveer Singh of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (Shaheed Bhagat Singh) said they have been camping at the two border points for 280 days and the Centre has not held any talks with them since February 18.
A panel of Union ministers Piyush Goyal, Nityanand Rai and Arjun Munda (not a minister in the new government) held talks with farmer representatives on February 18. Farmers had then rejected the Centre’s proposal that government agencies buy pulses, maize and cotton crops at MSP for five years.
Last week, the farmers announced that they would intensify their agitation and start a fast unto death from November 26.
On Monday, farmer leaders said if the government does not hold talks with the farmers in the meantime, then they will resume their march from Shambhu, they said.
Displaying of Black Flags Towards BJP Leaders on Agenda
SKM leader Guramneet Singh Mangat said farmers will march towards Delhi by foot on December 6, but added that the road is heavily barricaded by security forces.
They will also show black flags to Punjab BJP leaders after November 26, farmer leaders said.
Protesting farmers had previously attempted to march towards Delhi on February 13 and February 21, but were halted by security forces stationed at key border points.
Earlier on February 21, a young farmer from Punjab, Shubhkaran Singh, tragically lost his life in clashes at the Khanauri border as farmers tried to proceed towards Delhi. Security forces had deployed tear gas shells in an attempt to disperse the protesters as they approached the barricades.
Since February 13, protesting farmers have been camping at the Shambhu and Khanauri border points, where multi-layered barricades were erected to block their path.
In response to a petition from the Haryana government, the Supreme Court had, in September, formed a committee led by former Punjab and Haryana High Court judge Justice Nawab Singh to facilitate a resolution of the farmers’ grievances.
The committee also includes retired IPS officer B.S. Sandhu, agricultural expert Devinder Sharma, professor Ranjit Singh Ghuman, and Dr. Sukhpal Singh, an agricultural economist from Punjab Agricultural University.
The Haryana government had approached the Supreme Court to challenge a July order from the Punjab and Haryana High Court, which directed the removal of barricades at the Shambhu border near Ambala within a week.
The farmers’ demands include a legal guarantee for the Minimum Support Price (MSP) for crops, a waiver of farm debt, pension provisions for farmers and farm laborers, no increase in electricity tariffs, the withdrawal of police cases against protesters, justice for victims of the 2021 Lakhimpur Kheri violence, the reinstatement of the 2013 Land Acquisition Act, and compensation for the families of farmers who died during the 2020-21 protests.
(With inputs from PTI)
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