SKM core committee decides to carry on with protests, demands that govt talks to farmers : Kerala News

New Delhi, The Samyukt Kisan Morcha on Saturday said farmers would continue their protests and appealed to them to join in the upcoming programs as scheduled, and questioned why the government remained silent on the rest of their demands.

A meeting of the core committee of farmer unions under the banner of Samyukt Kisan Morcha was held on Saturday, and farmer leaders reiterated that their protest plans for the coming day remain unchanged.

A meeting of the general body of the SKM would be held on Sunday, where further discussions would be held and the future course of action would be decided.

An official statement from the SKM said the struggle will continue.

"Kisan Andolan continues its struggle for all its rightful demands to be met by the Government of India - Samyukt Kisan Morcha appeals to all protesting farmers to continue with the announced programs with full energy," a statement said.

SKM appealed to farmers to make Lucknow Kisan Mahapanchayat a great success on November 22nd, urged them to join in large numbers at all morcha sites on the first anniversary of the historic andolan on November 26th and for the Parliament March planned from November 29th.

The statement said that the Prime Minister chose to remain silent on the pending demands of farmers, as well as on the 670 farmers' deaths during the movement so far.

"The Government of India did not even acknowledge their sacrifice," the statement said.

Other demands of the protesting farmers include expulsion of MoS Home Ajay Mishra, law on MSP, scrapping electricity bill, withdrawal of cases against farmers during the agitation and compensation and resettlement of kin of farmers who died in protests.

The statement also said instead of being sacked, Mishra was continuing to attend government events, including a DGP conference held in Lucknow on Friday and Saturday.

"SKM core committee welcomed the PM's announcement of repealing the farm laws, but at the same time, it was also decided to demand the government to hold discussions with farmers on pending issues," P Krishna Prasad, Finance Secretary of the All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) told UNI.

"Government needs to hold discussions with the SKM on the all other demands, like the issue Minimum Support Price, and the question of privatisation of electricity through the electricity bill, expulsion of Ajay Mishra Teni and withdrawal of cases against farmers related to this agitation," Krishna Prasad said.

Farmer groups also demanded compensation and resettlement of families of the around 700 farmers who died in the course of the year long agitation. "We hope the government will respond. Tomorrow the general body meeting will discuss the details of proposals and SKM," he said.

Krantikari Kisan Union leader Darshan Pal meanwhile said that the government appeared to be on back-foot, and they decided to repeal the laws as they could see the fall in their popularity.

"What PM said yesterday shows government is scared of the farmers' movement. He has admitted his mistake," Darshan Pal said.

He however added that the statement that a certain sections of farmers could not understand the laws is not right, and said that government should talk to the farmers.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi took the nation by surprise on Friday as he announced that the three controversial farm laws would be repealed in the upcoming Winter Session of Parliament. He said government could not make a section of farmers understand.

The SKM said it would wait for the process of repealing the bill to be finished before farmers take a decision of returning from Delhi borders where they have been camping for almost a year now against the laws.