News Analysis India

Tag: Samyukt Kisan Morcha

  • SKM calls for country-wide protests on October 26 to demand dismissal, arrest of Union Minister Ajay Mishra

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The Samyukt Kisan Morcha on Friday gave a call to organise country-wide protests on October 26 to press for the dismissal and arrest of Union Minister Ajay Mishra in connection with the Lakhimpur violence, and also to mark the completion of 11 months of farmers’ agitation.

    In a statement, the SKM, a joint forum of farmer unions, demanded from the central government fulfilment of its “legitimate demands” – repeal of the three anti-farmer laws, making MSP into a legal entitlement for all produce and all farmers, and sacking as well as arrest of Ajay Mishra.

    Farmers from Punjab, Haryana And Uttar Pradesh had been camping at Delhi borders – Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur – since November 26 last year to oppose three contentious farm laws passed by the central government.

    “The SKM has now put out a call to all constituents to mark October 26 with country-wide protests, to intensify the demand for Ajay Mishra Teni’s dismissal and arrest, and to mark the completion of 11 long months of peaceful struggle.

    “On that day, between 11 am and 2 pm, there will be sit-ins and marches,” the SKM said in the statement.

    Four of the eight people who died in the violence on October 3 were farmers, allegedly knocked down by a vehicle carrying BJP workers.

    Angry farmers then allegedly lynched some people in the vehicles.

    The other dead included two BJP workers and their driver.

    Farmers have claimed that Ajay Mishra’s son Ashish was in one of the vehicles, an allegation denied by him and his father who say they can produce evidence to prove he was at an event at that time.

    Ashish Mishra was arrested in the case on October 9.

    The SKM also decided to postpone its Mahapanchayat in Lucknow, that was earlier scheduled to be held on October 26, to November 22.

    In the statement, the body also clarified that Bhartiya Sikh Sanghatan (led by Jasbir Singh Virk) has never been and will not be a part of SKM.

    The SKM reiterated its demand for a thorough investigation by a sitting judge of the Supreme Court into the alleged sacrilege and murder at Singhu Border earlier this month.

    A man was found lynched with his hand chopped off while his body was tied to a metal barricade at a farmers’ protest venue at Kundli near the Delhi-Haryana border recently.

  • Singhu lynching case be investigated by Supreme Court judge, demands Samyukt Kisan Morcha

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) on Thursday demanded that the Singhu lynching case be investigated by a Supreme Court judge and the resignation of Union ministers Narendra Singh Tomar and Kailash Choudhary for meeting a Nihang Sikh leader whose group was allegedly involved in the brutal killing of a man.

    The umbrella body of farmer unions also gave the call for all-India dharnas to demand sacking and arrest of Union minister Ajay Mishra in connection with the Lakhimpur Kheir incident, and to mark the completion of 11 months of the protest against farm laws at Delhi borders.

    “SKM demands that Union ministers Narendra Singh Tomar and Kailash Choudhary who were documented in pictures to have met the Nihang Sikh leader whose group is involved in the brutal murder should immediately resign. To investigate into the conspiracy and deep plot to entrap and denigrate farmers, SKM demands that an investigation by a Supreme Court judge should be instituted,” the Morcha said in a statement.

    It added that there was “a conspiracy to give a bad name to the farmers’ movement and to entrap it in violence” through such incidents.

    On October 15, the body of Lakhbir Singh, a Dalit labourer, was found tied to a barricade at the Singhu border, where the anti-farm law protesters are camping, with a hand chopped off and multiple wounds caused by sharp-edged weapons.

    In a video clip that surfaced on social media platforms, some Nihangs were seen standing around the injured man with his severed left hand lying next to him.

    The Nihangs were heard accusing the man of desecrating a holy book of the Sikhs.

    “Thirty-two farmers’ organisations of Punjab met at Singhu Morcha yesterday. A five-member committee was also constituted to submit a fact-finding report of the incident. The meeting called upon the farmers of Punjab to strengthen the morchas by reaching out in large numbers to thwart the ongoing conspiracies of the government,” the SKM added.

  • ‘Rail Roko’ protest: Farmers block train traffic in Punjab, demand justice in Lakhimpur violence case

    By PTI

    CHANDIGARH: Farmers in Punjab squatted on rail tracks on Monday morning as part of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha’s six-hour ‘rail roko’ protest demanding the dismissal and arrest of Union Minister Ajay Mishra in connection with the violence in Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur Kheri.

    A railway official said four sections of the Ferozepur division were blocked by the protesters.

    The Ferozepur-Fazilka section in Ferozepur city and the Ferozepur-Ludhiana section at Ajitwal in Moga were affected, the official said.

    ​ALSO READ | Lakhimpur incident: SKM to hold ‘Rail Roko’ on October 18 to demand dismissal, arrest of Union Minister Ajay Mishra

    Demanding the arrest of Union Minister Ajay Mishra, Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee general secretary Sarwan Singh Pandher, on Monday, said the KMSC will hold protests at 20 places in 11 districts of the state.

    In a statement, the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), an umbrella body of farmer unions spearheading the agitation against the Centre’s three agri laws, had said “protests will be intensified until justice is secured” in the Lakhimpur Kheri case.

    During the ‘rail roko’ protest, all train traffic will be stopped from 10 am till 4 pm on Monday, the SKM had said.

    “To press for its demand for MoS Home Ajay Mishra’s dismissal and arrest, so that justice can be secured in the Lakhimpur Kheri massacre, Samyukt Kisan Morcha has announced a nation-wide Rail Roko programme.”

    ALSO READ | Lakhimpur Kheri violence: Cong slams PM Modi for not removing Union minister despite son’s arrest

    “SKM put out a call to its constituents to stop rail traffic for six hours on October 18 between 10 am and 4 pm. The SKM asks for this action to be taken up peacefully, without any destruction and damage of any kind to any railway property,” it had said.

    Four of the eight people who died in the violence on October 3 were farmers, allegedly knocked down by a vehicle carrying BJP workers.

    Haryana | Protestors block railway tracks at Bahadurgarh in protest against Lakhimpur Kheri incidentSamyukta Kisan Morcha has called for nationwide ‘Rail roko’ in protest against the incident pic.twitter.com/Ucvmfq6PcM
    — ANI (@ANI) October 18, 2021
    Angry farmers then allegedly lynched some people in the vehicles.

    The other dead included two BJP workers and their driver.

    Farmers have claimed that Ashish Mishra was in one of the vehicles, an allegation denied by him and Ajay Mishra who say they can produce evidence to prove he was at an event at that time.

    Ashish Mishra was arrested in the case on October 9.

  • Lakhimpur incident: SKM to hold ‘Rail Roko’ on October 18 to demand dismissal, arrest of Union Minister Ajay Mishra

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) on Sunday said ‘Rail Roko’ protests will be held across the country on October 18 to demand the dismissal and arrest of Union Minister Ajay Mishra in connection with the Lakhimpur Kheri incident.

    In a statement, the umbrella body of farmer unions spearheading the farmers’ agitation against the Centre’s three agri laws, said “protests will only be intensified until justice is secured” in the Lakhimpur Kheri case.

    The SKM said during the ‘rail roko’ protest, all train traffic will be stopped for six hours from 10 am till 4 pm on Monday.

    “To press for its demand for MoS Home Ajay Mishra’s dismissal and arrest, so that justice can be secured in the Lakhimpur Kheri massacre, Samyukt Kisan Morcha has announced a nation-wide Rail Roko program tomorrow.

    “SKM put out a call to its constituents to stop rail traffic for six hours on October 18, between 10 am and 4 pm. The SKM asks for this action to be taken up peacefully, without any destruction and damage of any kind to any railway property,” it said.

    Four of the eight people who died in the violence on October 3 were farmers, allegedly knocked down by a vehicle carrying BJP workers.

    Angry farmers then allegedly lynched some people in the vehicles.

    The other dead included two BJP workers and their driver.

    Farmers have claimed that Ashish Mishra was in one of the vehicles, an allegation denied by him and Ajay Mishra who say they can produce evidence to prove he was at an event at that time.

    Ashish Mishra was arrested in the case on October 9.

    The SKM also claimed that at effigy-burning events across Uttar Pradesh, several farmer leaders were put under house arrested while some were detained.

    SKM condemns this and asks the UP government not to suppress the right to protest of ordinary citizens, it added.

  • Bharatiya Kisan Union workers in UP’s Muzaffarnagar burn effigies of Union government

    By PTI

    MUZAFFARNAGAR: Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) workers burnt effigies of the central government on Saturday, August 16, 2021, evening in protest against the three farm laws and “anti-farmer” policies at several places in the district.

    The protesters had burnt effigies of the central government at Minakshi Chowk here, also in Morna, Titawi, Charthawal, Shahpur, Purkazi, Khatoli, and Chapar in the district.

    The protest was organised on the call of Samyukt Kisan Morcha – a consolidated front of several farmers groups.

    Farmers across parts of north India have been agitating against the three farm laws passed in Parliament in September 2020.

    The implementation of Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020, and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, was stayed by the Supreme Court in January this year with the appointment of a committee to look into grievances of the farmers.

  • Singhu lynching: SKM cannot escape responsibility for what happened at site, says Union Minister Kataria

    By PTI

    CHANDIGARH: Strongly condemning the gruesome killing of a man at the Singhu border, senior BJP leader and former Union minister Rattan Lal Kataria on Saturday said the Samyukt Kisan Morcha cannot escape from the responsibility for what happened at their protest site.

    “The way one used to hear about barbaric crime and killings carried out by the Taliban, in similar fashion Lakhbir Singh was done to death,” Kataria, the MP from Ambala, said.

    “The responsibility of any incident happening at the protest site (of farmers) lies with the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM). They cannot escape from the responsibility for what has happened at their protest site,” he said.

    Lakhbir Singh, a 36-year-old Dalit farm labourer, was lynched on Friday allegedly by a group of Nihangs who accused him of desecrating a Sikh holy book.

    His body was found tied to an overturned police barricade at the Singhu border protest site, with the left hand chopped off and multiple wounds caused by sharp-edged weapons.

    Kataria said the Haryana Police faced resistance and great difficulty in reaching the incident site on Friday.

    “What were the farmer union leaders doing?” he asked.

    In a statement, the SKM had on Friday said that “both the parties to the incident”, the Nihang group and the victim, had no relation with the Morcha.

    The peaceful and democratic movement of the farmers is opposed to violence in any form, the SKM statement had said.

    The BJP leader said no matter how big a mistake a person may have committed, the law of the land does not give anyone the right to kill.

    “There are no words enough to condemn this gruesome killing, in which a group of Nihangs inflicted injuries on Lakhbir Singh and later tied up his body with a metal barricade,” he said.

    Kataria said last year, a Punjab policeman’s hand was chopped off with a sword and his six colleagues injured in an attack allegedly by a group of Nihangs at a village market in Patiala when the accused were asked to produce curfew passes.

    The policeman’s hand was later reattached after a surgery at the PGIMER in Chandigarh.

    Haryana Agriculture Minister J P Dalal also condemned the incident, saying “there is no place for such incidents in a civilised society”.

    Hitting out at the barbaric incident, Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda said, “There should be a thorough investigation into the entire incident and those guilty should be punished.”

    He said the government should also hold dialogue with the protesting farmers and resolve the issue at the earliest.

  • Singhu lynching: SKM cannot escape responsibility for what happened at site: Union Minister Kataria

    By PTI

    CHANDIGARH: Strongly condemning the gruesome killing of a man at the Singhu border, senior BJP leader and former Union minister Rattan Lal Kataria on Saturday said the Samyukt Kisan Morcha cannot escape from the responsibility for what happened at their protest site.

    “The way one used to hear about barbaric crime and killings carried out by the Taliban, in similar fashion Lakhbir Singh was done to death,” Kataria, the MP from Ambala, said.

    “The responsibility of any incident happening at the protest site (of farmers) lies with the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM). They cannot escape from the responsibility for what has happened at their protest site,” he said.

    Lakhbir Singh, a 36-year-old Dalit farm labourer, was lynched on Friday allegedly by a group of Nihangs who accused him of desecrating a Sikh holy book.

    His body was found tied to an overturned police barricade at the Singhu border protest site, with the left hand chopped off and multiple wounds caused by sharp-edged weapons.

    Kataria said the Haryana Police faced resistance and great difficulty in reaching the incident site on Friday.

    “What were the farmer union leaders doing?” he asked.

    In a statement, the SKM had on Friday said that “both the parties to the incident”, the Nihang group and the victim, had no relation with the Morcha.

    The peaceful and democratic movement of the farmers is opposed to violence in any form, the SKM statement had said.

    The BJP leader said no matter how big a mistake a person may have committed, the law of the land does not give anyone the right to kill.

    “There are no words enough to condemn this gruesome killing, in which a group of Nihangs inflicted injuries on Lakhbir Singh and later tied up his body with a metal barricade,” he said.

    Kataria said last year, a Punjab policeman’s hand was chopped off with a sword and his six colleagues injured in an attack allegedly by a group of Nihangs at a village market in Patiala when the accused were asked to produce curfew passes.

    The policeman’s hand was later reattached after a surgery at the PGIMER in Chandigarh.

    Haryana Agriculture Minister J P Dalal also condemned the incident, saying “there is no place for such incidents in a civilised society”.

    Hitting out at the barbaric incident, Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda said, “There should be a thorough investigation into the entire incident and those guilty should be punished.”

    He said the government should also hold dialogue with the protesting farmers and resolve the issue at the earliest.

  • Farmers hold protests across Punjab, Haryana over delay in paddy procurement

    By PTI

    CHANDIGARH: Farmers in Punjab and Haryana on Saturday held protests at many places against postponing of paddy procurement.

    The Samyukt Kisan Morcha on Friday had given a call for holding protests outside the residences of legislators in both states to register their protest over the delay in purchasing paddy crop.

    The Centre on Thursday postponed procurement of kharif paddy in Punjab and Haryana till October 11 as the crop maturity is delayed and moisture content in fresh arrival is beyond permissible limits owing to recent heavy rains.

    The procurement operation is undertaken by the central government’s nodal agency Food Corporation of India (FCI) along with state agencies. Paddy procurement usually commences from October 1.

    Meanwhile, Haryana minister Anil Vij on Saturday said the farmers’ agitation against the Centre’s new laws is getting “violent day by day”.

    “Farmers’ agitation is getting violent day by day. Violent movement in the country of Mahatma Gandhi cannot be allowed”, said Vij in a tweet.

    Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal urged the Centre to start purchase of paddy crop.

    “The farmers of Punjab are upset, the central government has postponed the purchase of paddy for 10 days, farmer is standing outside the mandis carrying lakhs of quintals of paddy on his tractor,” said Kejriwal in a tweet.

    In Punjab, farmers gathered outside the residences of several Congress legislators, including Punjab Vidhan Sabha Speaker Rana K P Singh in Rupnagar and MLA Harjot Kamal in Moga and staged protests over delay in the purchase of paddy crop.

    Police personnel were deployed in strength to maintain law and order, said officials.

    Farmers expressed apprehension that they would suffer if their crop is not purchased at the grain markets. Paddy crop, though in small quantity, has started arriving in mandis especially in border areas of Punjab, said farmers.

    They questioned where the farmers, who have brought their crop at mandis, will go if their produce is not purchased. Some fear that they would be forced to sell their crop below the minimum support price (MSP) to private traders.

    A farmer in Haryana’s Karnal said his paddy crop will get damaged by October 11 when the Centre would start procuring it. At some places, farmers even handed over memorandum to the Deputy Commissioners demanding commencement of paddy purchase.

    In Haryana’s Ambala, police put up barricades to prevent farmers from laying siege to the residence of BJP legislator Aseem Goel. A fire fighting vehicle and a water cannon vehicle were also deployed outside the residence of the MLA.

    Tight security arrangement has been made outside the residence of Minister Vij at Ambala Cantonment, said officials.

  • Punjab Cabinet passes resolution expressing solidarity with farmers, their demands

    By PTI

    CHANDIGARH: The Punjab Cabinet on Monday passed a resolution expressing solidarity with the farmers, who are protesting against the central farm laws, and their demands.

    Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi had convened an emergency meeting of newly reconstituted Council of Ministers in view of the ‘Bharat Bandh’ call given by the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) to protest against the three agri laws, an official statement said after the cabinet meeting.

    “The Council of Ministers passed a resolution expressing solidarity with the farmers and their demands,” the statement said.

    Terming these laws as anti-farmers and anti-food security, Channi said these laws are a potent threat to the livelihood of farmers and their future generations.

    “#I Stand With Farmers & appeal the Union Govt. to repeal the three anti-farmer laws. Our farmers have been struggling for their rights since more than a year & it is high time that their voice is heard,” Channi had said earlier in the day in a tweet.

    Making a firm resolve, the chief minister said that the earlier resolutions passed by the state assembly in support of the state farmers’ demand to repeal these “black laws” should be conceded by the government of India forthwith without any further delay.

    While Channi, along with two deputy chief ministers, took oath a week ago, the 15 other members of his Council of Ministers took oath on Sunday, and this was the first meeting of the full-fledged cabinet.

    The Congress had recently picked Channi as the leader of the state’s Congress Legislative Party.

    He was sworn in as the chief minister on Monday last.

    Amarinder Singh had resigned as chief minister on Saturday after being locked in a bitter power tussle with Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu.

    The state government, led by Channi, had a few days ago also categorically reiterated its commitment to the resolutions passed by the Punjab Vidhan Sabha on August 28, 2020 and October 20, 2020, emphasising that all the genuine demands of the farmers must be accepted and urging the Centre to “repeal the farm laws as agriculture is a State Subject under the Constitution of India, and to make MSP a statutory right”.

    “There is a need for broad-based dialogue and proper consultation with all stakeholders as these legislations impact the future of millions of farmers across the country, and all genuine demands of the farmers must be accepted,” Channi said.

    Expressing solidarity with the families of the farmers who have lost their lives during the ongoing agitation against the farm laws, the chief minister stressed on the need to win over their confidence as the Congress government has always stood firmly in support of their demands from day one.

    He asked all the ministers to personally visit the houses of the deceased farmers to deliver the appointment letters for government jobs to their family members.

    He said nearly 155 such appointment letters are ready and the same should be delivered to them within a week.

    Channi also asked the chief secretary to ensure verification of other remaining such cases expeditiously so as to complete the process of giving government jobs to the eligible next of kin.

    Taking cognisance of the widespread resentment amongst the farmers for getting inadequate compensation in view of their land acquired by the various government agencies, Channi directed the chief secretary to explore ways and means to rationalise the quantum of compensation to be awarded to the farmers to their satisfaction.

  • Ready to agitate for 10 years, but won’t allow farm laws to be implemented: Rakesh Tikait ahead of ‘Bharat Bandh’

    By PTI

    CHANDIGARH: Bharatiya Kisan Union leader Rakesh Tikait on Sunday said farmers protesting against the central farm laws for the last 10 months are ready to agitate for 10 years, but will not allow the “black” legislations to be implemented.

    Thousands of farmers, mainly from Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, have been sitting at Delhi’s borders for the past 10 months demanding that the farm laws, enacted in September last year, be scrapped.

    “It has been 10 months of this agitation. The government must listen with open ears that even if we have to agitate for 10 years we are ready,” said Tikait, while addressing a well-attended “Kissan Mahapanchayat” in Panipat.

    The Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader said that the Centre will have to repeal these laws.

    Indicating that farmers were ready to intensify their stir if their demands are not met, Tikait asked farmers “to keep their tractors ready”, saying “these may be required anytime (to move towards) in Delhi”.

    The mahapanchayat came a day ahead of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha’s ”Bharat Bandh” call for September 27 against the Centre’s three contentious farm laws, marking completion of 10 months of the ongoing agitation.

    Tikait also said that if the present government does not rollback these laws then future governments will have to take it back.

    “Those who have to rule in this country, they will have to repeal these laws,” he asserted, while adding that “we will not allow these laws to be implemented, we will continue our agitation”.

    Tikait said that if farmers have not returned to their homes for 10 months, they will continue to agitate for 10 years, but will not allow the laws to be implemented.

    Attacking the central government, Tikait said, “They have taken cudgels at wrong place. Had they sensed the mood of these farmers (protesting against the farm laws), they would not have brought these black laws.”

    “These farmers will force this government to bow.”

    Tikait urged young farmers to make full use of social media to strengthen the ongoing agitation against the laws, saying there is a big responsibility on their shoulders to counter the propaganda which is sometimes unleashed to defame the stir.

    He said the government earlier had tried to project this agitation as limited to Punjab only.

    Then farmers were branded with various names and later it was also projected as if the stir was only of big farmers, Tikait said.

    The BKU leader thanked farmers of Haryana, saying a good number of them participated in the Muzaffarnagar ‘Kisan Mahapanchayat’ in Uttar Pradesh earlier this month.

    The Muzaffarnagar mahapanchayat came just months ahead of the crucial Uttar Pradesh assembly polls.

    With polls also due early next year in Uttarakhand and Punjab, Tikait said similar meetings like the one at Muzaffarnagar will be held in these states too.

    Talking to reporters in Panipat after the event, Haryana BKU (Chaduni) chief Gurnam Singh Chaduni said that if the government does not listen to their demands, they will have to intensify their stir.

    He also called upon all sections of society to make the ‘Bharat Bandh’ successful.