Farmer outfits slam India-US trade deal, call for large-scale protests on February 12

New Delhi: Several farmer organisations, including SKM, its non-political breakaway faction and AIKS, criticised the India-US trade deal on Saturday and said protests against it will be held across the country.

In a statement issued here on Saturday, the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) alleged that the proposed interim trade agreement framework between India and the United States amounted to a "total surrender" of Indian agriculture to American multinational corporations and demanded the immediate resignation of Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal.

Addressing an online press conference, SKM leaders said protests would be held across the country in villages, and they would burn effigies of US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The SKM also extended its support to the February 12 general strike.

All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) leader Krishna Prasad said the trade deal will have a deep impact on the agriculture sector by opening market for items like dried distillers' grains, red sorghum for animal feed and soybean oil, and also claimed it would impact the dairy sector.

He said the deals with the US, as well as the European Union (EU), were being done to benefit their "stagnant" economies and are not beneficial for India.

Activist Sunilam said the issue should be debated in Parliament.

Krantikari Kisan Union (Punjab) leader Darshan Pal said members of the outfit would burn effigies of Trump and Modi in protest.

He said the deal will further impact farmers who are already facing issues of low income and are unable to pay loans.

Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rakesh Tikait said people in the villages are questioning how the deals will impact them.

He called upon farmers to join the protest against the deals.

In a statement, the SKM said, "The framework is an abject rejection of the claim of the Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal that the agriculture and dairy sectors are out of the Free Trade Agreements and the Government of India will not make any compromise on the interests of agriculture." "The commerce minister is consciously propagating falsehood and betraying the farmers and the entire people. SKM considers the role of the commerce minister as a traitor and demands his immediate resignation," the SKM said.

"Also, SKM demands that the prime minister desist from signing the India-US Free Trade Agreement or face massive pan-India united mass struggles," it said.

The SKM appealed to all the political parties, farmers and agricultural workers' organisations, trade unions and all the mass and class organisations to join the protest demonstrations on the February 12 general strike.

The SKM (Non-Political) also said in a statement that it would soon hold a meeting and announce large-scale protests against the India-US free trade agreement, adding that Indian farmers will not tolerate any such agreement.

According to the statement, farmer leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal said that while Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal is tweeting that agriculture and the dairy sector will be protected, the India-US joint statement says that India has agreed to discuss and resolve non-tariff barriers imposed on US agricultural and food products.

Dallewal said these two positions are contradictory, and the joint statement makes it clear that under US pressure, the Indian government has agreed to open Indian markets to American agricultural products, which will cause severe losses to Indian farmers.

India and the US announced on Saturday that they have reached a framework for an interim trade agreement, under which both sides will reduce import duties on a number of goods to boost the two-way trade.

According to the deal, while Washington will reduce the tariffs on Indian goods to 18 per cent from the present 50 per cent, New Delhi will eliminate or cut down import duties on all US industrial goods and a wide range of American food and agricultural products, including dried distillers' grains, red sorghum for animal feed, tree nuts, fresh and processed fruit, soybean oil, wine and spirits.

According to a joint statement, India has expressed its intention to purchase US energy products, aircraft and aircraft parts, precious metals, technology products and coking coal worth $500 billion over the next five years.

The Joint Platform of Central Trade Unions (CTUs) and sectoral federations and associations have announced a one-day general strike on February 12 against the imposition of the labour codes and the trade deals.