The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) on Saturday decided to put on hold for a week its plan to take out a tractor march on all days of the upcoming winter session of Parliament in view of the Narendra Modi government’s decision to repeal the three farm laws and indications that some of their other demands may also be met.
However, the ongoing protests will continue till the government gives an assurance on the floor of the House that it will bring a law to guarantee minimum support price (MSP) for all crops and get all the BJP-ruled state governments to withdraw “false” cases filed against protesting farmers.
The SKM’s collective leadership, which has been spearheading the protests for over a year now, will meet again on December 4 to take stock of the situation and decide on the future course of action.
The decision to suspend their Parliament march for a week was taken after Union agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar made a fresh appeal earlier in the day to the farmers to end their protest and return home.
“After the announcement of the repeal of the three farm laws, there is no point in continuing the farmers’ agitation. I urge the farmers to end their agitation and go home,” Tomar told the news agency ANI, adding that farmers should respect the announcement made by the Prime Minister.
The minister said that the government had accepted the farmers’ demand for decriminalising stubble burning.
On the demand for an MSP law, Tomar said: “Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced the constitution of a committee to deliberate on the issues of crop diversification, zero-budget farming and making the MSP system more transparent and effective. This committee will have representatives from farmers’ organisations. With the constitution of this committee, the farmers’ demand on the MSP stands fulfilled.”
As for the withdrawal of cases, the minister said: “It comes under the jurisdiction of state governments and they will take a decision on the basis of the severity of the cases. The issue of compensation too comes under state governments.”
Reacting to Tomar’s remarks, the SKM said the farmers want an assurance on the MSP law in Parliament and then they can consider participating in the committee to decide on the nitty-gritty.
The SKM pointed out that the government had given verbal assurances on the NCR pollution law and the electricity bill during the negotiations earlier but went back on them eventually. “Statements don’t count much, we need written assurances,” SKM leaders said.
Unhappy with the unilateral announcements being made by the government — while apparently continuing with efforts to break the movement by reaching out to some farmer leaders to win them over — the SKM, in a statement, referred to their letter to the Prime Minister on November 21 and urged the government to restart the dialogue process and discuss the pending issues.
“The Morcha condemned the government’s attempts to bypass bilateral discussions and sidestep crucial issues. In a democracy, it is the duty of the elected government to consult the protesting farmers and resolve the disputes amicably,” the statement said.
As for Tomar’s claim that the cases filed against farmers are outside the Centre’s jurisdiction and a state issue, the SKM leaders shot back: “It is no secret that the BJP today is Modi and Shah. They can direct the state governments to withdraw the cases filed by the states and the railways to take back its cases against farmers.”
Regarding the continuing boycott of BJP leaders, particularly in Punjab and Haryana, SKM leader Darshan Pal said: “If they accept all our demands, then why should we continue to boycott them? We have no personal enmity with the BJP.”