New Delhi: The Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), an umbrella physique of farmers’ unions, has introduced that it’s going to escalate its agitation within the coming days, as farmers and their supporters noticed a ‘Bharat Bandh’ on Friday. The SKM mentioned that its Punjab unit will convene a gathering on February 18 at Jalandhar, adopted by the conferences of the NCC and the overall physique at New Delhi, to evaluate the state of affairs and plan the subsequent steps. The SKM additionally issued an announcement on the day of the bandh, accusing the Union authorities of “spoiling the atmosphere on farmers’ issues” by reneging on its guarantees made when the 2020-21 sit-in protest at Delhi borders concluded.
“The SKM has decided to intensify the agitation immediately and it will be done with multiple calls for massive actions in coordination with workers and all other sections of the people,” the SKM mentioned within the assertion. “The Narendra Modi government has intentionally spoiled the atmosphere on farmers’ issues and deceived people into believing that he is honest and sincere,” it mentioned.
The SKM referred to the “promises” made by the federal government, which included a committee to contemplate giving a authorized standing to MSP and different calls for in December 2021. However, seven months later, they fashioned a committee with those that have been brazenly towards giving MSP, and added crop diversification and nil price range pure farming to its agenda, the SKM alleged.
“Instead of holding genuine talks, they are making a mockery of negotiations by sending ministers to the protesters at Shambhu to dupe the people and keeping the points and progress in the discussion ‘secret’, thus keeping the farmers of the entire country in the dark,” it additional alleged.
The SKM mentioned that the bandh on Friday confirmed the “anger of the people against the brutal repression” by the Modi authorities and the BJP-led state authorities of Haryana on the farmers at Punjab’s Shambhu border. “The farmers’ anger against the corporate and communal policies of the Narendra Modi government has erupted today with their massive participation in the Grameen Bharat Bandh,” it mentioned.
The SKM additionally claimed that it was one of many biggest-ever mass actions of the individuals in impartial India, which helped deliver again the difficulty of individuals’s livelihood on the nationwide agenda simply earlier than the upcoming normal elections.
“While the protest in Punjab turned into a near-total bandh, in all other states and Union Territories, villages saw shops, industries, markets, educational institutions and government offices shut down. Huge demonstrations and protest rallies were organised, in which lakhs of people took part with enthusiasm,” it additional claimed.
