A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the repeal of the controversial farm laws, agitating farmers on Saturday reminded the government of another key demand: a law guaranteeing minimum support price for agricultural produce.
At a meeting in New Delhi on Saturday, the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) also decided that the kisan mahapanchayat at Lucknow and the daily tractor march to Parliament during the Winter Session will go ahead as planned.
The SKM, which has been spearheading the year-long agitation,. said the protests at the borders of the national capital will continue till the three farm laws are formally repealed.
“All the announced plans are under way. We appeal to farmers to join in very large numbers in the Lucknow kisan mahapanchayat on November 22 as planned earlier,” said Darshan Pal, a member of the SKM core committee, adding that a meeting of the SKM will be held on Sunday to decide the future course of action.
Pal said Modi's announcement on Friday to repeal the three farm laws had ignored the key demand for a law to guarantee MSP to farmers and the shelving of the amendments to the Electricity Act.
“We have also been demanding to keep farmers out of penal clauses related to statutes on air quality regulation in Delhi. All these demands are still pending,” Pal said.
He said the year-long agitation has also seen 670 farmers “sacrifice” their lives and the government had “refused to acknowledge the human cost imposed on the protesters”.
“The martyrs also deserve homage to be paid to them in the Parliament session, and a memorial erected in their name,” Pal said.
The SKM also demanded “unconditional withdrawal” of “false cases” slapped by the government on farmers across various states including Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Delhi, Chandigarh, Madhya Pradesh.
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(Published 20 November 2021, 15:58 IST)
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