News Analysis India

Tag: Samyukta Kisan Morcha

  • Gather in large numbers at protest sites on 1st anniversary of agitation on November 26: SKM to farmers

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced repeal of the three contentious farm laws, the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) on Saturday said its scheduled programmes would continue and urged farmers to gather in large numbers at all protest sites on the first anniversary of the agitation against the legislations on November 26.

    The SKM has welcomed the prime minister’s decision but said it will wait for the announcement to take effect through due parliamentary procedures.

    In a statement, the SKM, an umbrella body of 40 farmers’ unions, said the struggle will continue to get all demands of the protesting farmers fulfilled and all announced plans are underway.

    “SKM appeals to farmers in various North Indian states to reach the different morcha sites on November 26, 2021, which marks the completion of a full one year of continuous peaceful protests at Delhi’s borders,” the statement said.

    Thousands of farmers, particularly those from Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh, have been protesting at the borders of the national capital since November 26 last year demanding repeal of the three farm laws.

    Farmer leaders said that a final decision on the future course of the agitation and the issue of minimum support price (MSP) will be taken in a meeting of the SKM at the Singhu border protest site on Sunday.

    The farmers’ body said the first anniversary of the agitation will be marked by parades by tractors and bullock carts in other states.

    “In various states that are far away from Delhi, the first anniversary on November 26 will be marked by tractor and bullock cart parades in capital cities, along with other protests,” the SKM said in the statement.

    It said that the prime minister announced repeal of the three “black” farm laws but he chose to ‘remain silent’ on the other pending demands of the farmers.

    “More than 670 farmers martyred in the farmers’ movement so far and the Government of India did not even acknowledge their sacrifice.

    These martyrs’ families have to be supported with compensation and employment opportunities.

    The martyrs also deserve homage to be paid to them in Parliament session, and a memorial should be erected in their name,” the SKM said in the statement.

    Hundreds of cases in which thousands of farmers have been implicated in Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Delhi, Chandigarh, Madhya Pradesh and elsewhere have to be withdrawn unconditionally, it said.

    It added that during the Monsoon Session of Parliament from November 29, peaceful and disciplined march of 500 protesters in tractor trolleys to Parliament every day will go ahead as planned.

    It also indicated that its movement for a statutory guarantee of MSP and demand for the withdrawal of the Electricity Amendment Bill will continue.

    The SKM also appealed to farmers to join in ‘very large’ numbers in the Lucknow Kisan Mahapanchayat on November 22.

  • SKM announces daily tractor march to Parliament during Winter Session

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: To observe one year of the movement against the Centre’s three agri-marketing laws, 500 farmers will participate in a peaceful tractor march to Parliament every day during Winter Session starting November 29, the Samyukta Kisan Morcha said on Tuesday.

    Farmers from Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh have been protesting against the laws, which were stayed by the Supreme Court in January, at the Delhi borders since November 26 last year.

    The SKM, an umbrella body of 40 farmer unions leading the stir, announced the tractor march after it held a meeting here.

    In a statement, the amalgam said that it will observe one year of the movement on and after November 26 in a “massive way” all over India.

    “The SKM decided that from November 29 until the end of this Parliament session, 500 selected farmer volunteers will move every day to Parliament in tractor trollies peacefully and with full discipline, to assert their rights to protest in the national capital,” the statement said.

    This will be done to “‘increase the pressure” on the central government “to force it to concede the demands for which farmers across the country have launched a historic struggle”, it said.

    Earlier in March too, farmers had taken out “a foot march” to Parliament to oppose the contentious three farm laws.

    On January 26, a tractor rally had turned violent with protesters breaking barricades, attacking security personnel and storming the Red Fort, where they hoisted a religious flag.

    The SKM statement said that on November 26, there will be huge mobilisations from Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Rajasthan at all the Delhi borders “All farm unions in the SKM will mobilise farmers in strength for this occasion.

    Huge public meetings will be held there (at borders) that day. Homage will be paid to more than 650 martyrs in this struggle so far,” it said.

    The SKM has also called for massive mahapanchayats in state capitals on November 26.

    The Winter session of Parliament will begin on November 29 and go on till December 23rd.

  • Will march to Parliament on November 26 if SKM approves: Haryana BKU chief Chaduni

    By PTI

    CHANDIGARH: Haryana BKU (Chaduni) chief Gurnam Singh Chaduni said farmers from the state will march to Parliament on November 26 if the Samyukta Kisan Morcha approves the decision taken in this regard in Rohtak on Sunday.

    The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) is an umbrella body of 40 farmer unions spearheading the agitation against the Centre’s three farm laws.

    A meeting of various farmers’ outfits from the state was held in Rohtak, Chaduni told reporters later.

    Giving details about the decisions taken at the meeting, he said, “On November 26, which is also the Constitution Day, we decided in the meeting to march to Parliament. On November 9, we will keep this decision before a meeting of the SKM. If they approve it, then we will go”.

    Chaduni said in the meeting at Rohtak, it has been demanded that a case be registered against BJP MP Arvind Sharma over his controversial remarks.

    Attacking the Congress over some of his party leaders being held up in Rohtak on Friday, the BJP MP from Rohtak had on Saturday allegedly threatened that “eye will be gouged out and hand chopped off” if anybody tries to target former Haryana minister Manish Grover.

    “A resolution was passed in the meeting condemning his remarks and it was decided that a case be registered against the MP,” said Chaduni.

    Chaduni also alleged that several farmers who are protesting against the Centre’s farm laws are receiving summons in various cases slapped against them in Haryana.

    “In many cases, farmers are getting summons. It was decided in the meeting that no one should respond to these summons. When a decision about the (farmers’) agitation will be taken, it will be decided accordingly what has to be done in this regard (about summons),” he said.

    Earlier, BKU leader Rakesh Tikait had said that the farmers’ protest will be intensified if the farm laws are not repealed by November 26.

    Hundreds of farmers are encamped at Delhi borders since November last year are demanding that the government repeal the three agri laws — Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020; Farmers’ (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020; and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.

    They claim that these laws will leave them at the mercy of corporates.

    They are also demanding a new law to guarantee the minimum support price (MSP) for their crops.

    The Centre, which has held 11 rounds of talks with farmers to break the deadlock, has maintained that the new laws are pro-farmer.

    Meanwhile, farmers’ protest outside Narnaund police station in Haryana to demand withdrawal of an FIR filed against two farmers continued for the second day on Sunday, the Samyukt Kisan Morcha said.

    The umbrella body of farmer unions, in a statement, said if the matter was not resolved on Sunday, they would gherao the Hansi SP office on Monday.

    The windshield of BJP MP Ram Chander Jangra’s car was smashed after some miscreants allegedly threw lathis on the vehicle during a protest over his visit to Haryana’s Hisar on Friday.

    A group of protesters carrying black flags blocked Jangra’s route in Narnaund, according to the police.

    “The police had filed an FIR and arrested two farmers for showing black flag to BJP MP Jangra. While the farmers were released on a personal bond, the case against them continues,” the body said in the statement.

    The SKM said one farmer, Kuldeep Singh Rana, got seriously injured in the incident, and is still fighting for his life at the Jindal Hospital.

    The 40-year-old owns a very small tract of land.

    “Farmers are demanding that the case against the farmers be taken back, and another case be filed for the injury suffered by Kuldeep Singh Rana. Farmers have announced that if the matter is not resolved by Sunday, they will gherao the Hansi SP office from tomorrow,” it said.

    Meanwhile, farmers in Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh will hold a protest against the state government at Jari Mandi on November 9.

    Apart from the demand for dismissal of Ajay Mishra Teni from the Union Council of Ministers in connection with the Lakhimpur Kheri incident, farmers’ demands include paddy procurement at Rs 1,940 per quintal.

  • ‘Repeal farm laws by November 26 or farmers will intensify protest’: Tikait’s ultimatum to Centre

    November 26 would mark one year of the ongoing farmers' protests at Delhi's border points of Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur.

  • ‘Never blocked roads, we stand vindicated’: Samyukta Kisan Morcha on removal of barricades

    Express News Service

    CHANDIGARH:  With the barricades and concertina wire put in place by the Delhi Police at the Ghazipur and Tikri borders are being removed by the police itself.

    The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) today said that this move by the police has vindicated their stand that they never blocked roads at the border points of the national capital.

    The SKM leaders said any decision to entirely clear both the carriageways at the protest sites would be taken by the morcha but a passage for traffic to move smoothly will be made in the coming days.

    Senior SKM leader Darshan Pal said false allegations were being levelled against farmers that they had blocked roads, which had been rejected by them from day one.

    “At Singhu border farmers had occupied the portion of road which is already closed for traffic due to construction of a flyover. Now, this move to remove the barricades by the Delhi Police proves our point that it was the police who had blocked roads and not the farmers. We never created any problem. Any bottleneck from our side will also be cleared for traffic movement.’’

    The lawyers of the farmer unions argued in the supreme court that the Delhi police were responsible for the blockade at the national capital’s borders said sources in the farmers unions and added that the labourers and police personnel were removing iron nails that were studded on the at Ghazipur and Tikri borders.

    Meanwhile, the barricades and cemented blocks remain intact at the Singhu border and the road remains closed for commuters. 

  • Lakhimpur Kheri violence: Meeting slain BJP worker’s family was act of humanity, says Yogendra Yadav

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: A day after he was suspended from the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), social activist Yogendra Yadav on Friday said his visit to the family members of a BJP worker killed in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence was an “act of humanity”.

    Yadav has been suspended by the SKM for a month for visiting the family of Subham Mishra, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) worker who was killed in Lakhimpur Kheri district of Uttar Pradesh on October 3 in violence that erupted during a farmers’ protest.

    The SKM is an umbrella body of over 40 farm unions that is spearheading the protests at Delhi’s borders against three new agriculture laws of the Centre In a statement, Yadav said he has apologised for not seeking the opinion of the other members of the SKM before visiting the slain BJP worker’s family.

    He said he regrets not consulting the other members of the SKM before his meeting with Mishra’s family and it saddens him to have hurt their feelings.

    “In any movement, collective opinion prevails above individual understanding. I am sorry that I did not talk to the other comrades of SKM before taking this decision,” Yadav said.

    “I respect the collective decision-making process of the SKM and gladly accept the punishment awarded under this process. I will continue to work more diligently than ever for the success of this historic peasant movement,” he added.

    Yadav defended his meeting with Mishra’s family, calling it an “act of humanity”.

    “It is in line with humanity and the Indian culture to share the misery of even those who are your sworn enemies,” he said.

    Yadav said he met the families of the farmers and the journalist killed in the same incident, before meeting the family of the BJP worker.

    He hoped that his public expression of sentiments will only strengthen the farmers’ movement.

    “I hope that a fruitful dialogue can be started on this question,” he added.

    In a statement on Friday, the SKM said the decision to suspend Yadav (one of the nine members of its coordination committee) for a month was taken keeping in mind the “hurt sentiments of the farmers associated with the movement who are already having to deal with the injustice of the Lakhimpur Kheri massacre and that his unilateral decision did not reflect well on the movement”.

    “On his part, Yogendra Yadav explained that he visited the bereaved family to share their grief in a non-partisan manner and that he stands by the action he undertook in his personal capacity in terms of his principles and policy. He apologised since his action had hurt the sentiments of the protesting farmers and regretted the fact that he did not consult his colleagues prior to the visit,” the statement read.

    According to a senior farmer leader, the decision to suspend Yadav was taken at a general body meeting of the SKM.

    “He (Yadav) cannot participate in the meetings and other activities of the SKM,” the farmer leader said.

    Yadav attended the SKM’s general body meeting on Thursday.

    Eight people were killed in the Lakhimpur Kheri incident.

    Four farmers and a journalist were run over when a car allegedly being driven by a Union minister’s son ploughed through a walking column of farmers in the district’s Tikunia village.

    Angry farmers then allegedly dragged out two BJP workers and their driver from vehicles that were part of the convoy and beat them to death.

  • Lakhimpur Kheri violence: SKM suspends Yogendra Yadav over visiting BJP worker’s house

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: The Samyukta Kisan Morcha on Thursday suspended social activist Yogendra Yadav for a month for visiting the family of a BJP worker who was killed in the October 3 Lakhimpur Kheri violence.

    Yadav has been a member of the outfit’s core committee.

    A senior farmer leader said the decision was taken at a general body meeting of the SKM, which has been spearheading the nationwide protest against the Centre’s farm laws.

    “In its meeting, the SKM suspended Yogendra Yadav for a month as he had visited the family of a BJP worker who had died in Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur Kheri,” he said.

    “He (Yadav) cannot participate in the meetings and other activities of Samyukta Kisan Morcha,” the farmer leader added.

    Yadav had attended the SKM’s general body meeting on Thursday.

    Eight people were killed in Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur Kheri on October 3.

    Four of the eight victims were farmers, who were 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.

  • ‘Opposed to any form of violence’: Samyukta Kisan Morcha on Singhu border ‘gruesome killing’

    By ANI

    NEW DELHI: The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) on Friday issued a statement condemning the “gruesome killing” of a man whose mutilated body was found this morning near the farmers’ protest site at Kundli in Haryana on the Singhu Border near Delhi.

    The SKM, an umbrella organisation under which many unions are protesting against farm laws, said that “both the parties to the incident, the Nihang group and the deceased person, have no relation with the Samyukt Kisan Morcha”.

    “Samyukt Kisan Morcha condemns this gruesome killing and wants to make it clear that both the parties to this incident, the Nihang group (accused) and the deceased person, have no relation with Samyukt Kisan Morcha,” the statement read.

    According to SKM, “A person hailing from Punjab (Lakhbir Singh, son Darshan Singh, Village Cheema Kala, Police Station Sarai Amanat Khan, District Tarn Taran) was mutilated and murdered this morning at the Singhu Border.”

    ALSO READ | Unidentified young man brutally murdered at Singhu border

    “A Nihang group at the scene has claimed responsibility, saying that the incident took place because of the deceased’s attempt to commit sacrilege with regard to the Sarbaloh Granth,” added the statement.

    According to the Haryana Police, the deceased has been identified as Lakhbir Singh, a labourer aged 35 or 36-year-old hailing from Punjab’s Tarn Taran.

    The body was found hanging on a police barricade at the farmers’ protest site near Singhu border in the early hours of Friday, DSP Hansraj said.

    The SKM has demanded that the culprits should be punished after lawful investigation into the allegation of murder and conspiracy behind sacrilege and they will “cooperate with the police and administration in any lawful action.”

    The group said that it is “against sacrilege of any religious text or symbol, but that does not give anyone the right to take the law into their own hands”.

    “This peaceful and democratic movement is opposed to violence in any form,” the SKM said .

  • ‘Remove MoS Ajay Mishra from Union Cabinet’: Samyukta Kisan Morcha writes to President Kovind

    By ANI

    NEW DELHI: Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) on Monday wrote a letter to President Ram Nath Kovind demanding the dismissal of Minister of State for Home Ajay Mishra Teni from the Union Council of Ministers and constitute a Special Investigation Team (SIT) under the supervision of the Supreme Court in the brutal killing of farmers in Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur Kheri.

    In a letter to Kovind, SKM, an umbrella body of several farmer unions, also said that the Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, who is “inciting violence while holding a constitutional post, should be sacked from his post”.

    “Union Home Minister Ajay Mishra Teni should be immediately dismissed from his post and a case should be filed against him for inciting violence and spreading communal hatred and the Union Minister’s son Ashish Mishra “Monu” and his fellow goons should be immediately booked for 302 (murder) and arrested immediately,” the letter reads.

    The farmers union further said that the whole country is outraged by the incident of the alleged brutal killing of farmers in broad daylight by mowing them down with vehicles in Lakhimpur Kheri yesterday.

    “Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Ajay Kumar Mishra “Teni’s son and his goon accomplices carried out this murderous attack in a brazen manner which shows a deep conspiracy of Uttar Pradesh and Central Governments,” it said.

    It further said that Ajay Mishra had already built a context to this attack by giving inflammatory and derogatory speeches against the farmers.

    The SKM alleged, “It is no coincidence that on the same day, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar is publicly inciting his party workers to take up lathis and indulge in violence against farmers.”

    “It is clear from these incidents that these persons sitting on constitutional posts are using their positions for planned violence against “Annadatas” doing peaceful agitation. This is a crime as per the laws of the country, against the Constitution and the country,” it said.

    As many as eight people died in the Lakhimpur Kheri incident on Sunday, said Uttar Pradesh police.

    MoS Teni also said that his son was not present at the spot, adding that some miscreants mingled with protesting farmers and pelted the stones at the car which lead to the ‘unfortunate incident’.

    Earlier on Sunday, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar asked the state unit of BJP’s Kisan Morcha to ‘pick up sticks’ and to use ‘tit for tat’ methodology against the protesting farmers.

  • ‘Forget a day’s inconvenience for farmers’ sake’: Tikait urges people after Bharat Bandh ‘success’

    By PTI

    GHAZIABAD: The countrywide response to Monday’s Bharat Bandh has proved that the protests against three farm laws of the Centre are pan-India, Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rakesh Tikait said and urged the people who faced inconvenience due to the shutdown to forget it for the farmers’ sake.

    He said people from not just three states (Haryana, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh) but across the country participated in the shutdown called by the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), an umbrella body of over 40 farmer unions leading the protests against the three contentious laws, from 6 am to 4 pm and no violence was reported from anywhere.

    “Some people had described the protest as an issue of farmers only in three states (Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh). But the response and support to today’s bandh across the country has proved that it is a pan-India protest,” the national spokesperson of the BKU, part of the SKM, said.

    The 10-hour shutdown led to several trains being cancelled, highways and key roads blocked and thousands stranded for hours in parts of the country, particularly in the north.

    “Some people may have faced inconvenience due to the Bharat Bandh today, which is natural, but they should forget it for just one day in the name of farmers,” Tikait said in a statement.

    “The farmers have been on the roads, leaving their houses for the last 10 months, but the blind and deaf government neither sees nor hears anything,” he was quoted as saying in the statement issued by BKU media in-charge Dharmendra Malik.

    Tikait said in a democracy, there is no other option but to protest and warned the government that the farmers would go back to their homes only after the laws are abolished.

    “It is an appeal to our government that the problems of the farmers should be resolved as soon as possible,” he added.

    The influential BKU leader said the 10-month-long protests can end today if the government agrees to the farmers’ demands and urged the Centre to look into the issue at the earliest.

    He thanked farmers and workers across the country for making the shutdown a complete “success” and said the movement will continue till the three laws are repealed and a legal guarantee provided by the Centre on the Minimum Support Price (MSP) on crops.

    “The Bharat Bandh called by the SKM today has been a complete success. Farmers across the country came out on the roads and expressed their anger against the laws. At thousands of places, people came out in support of the bandh and staged demonstrations.”

    “Besides farmers, labourers, traders, private workers, trade unions and political parties extended support to the bandh across the country,” Tikait said.

    He also hit out at the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh over the Rs 25 per quintal hike on the MSP for sugarcane announced last week and said a separate agitation would be carried out by the BKU over the issue in the coming days.

    Tikait is leading hundreds of anti-farm law protesters and BKU supporters at Ghazipur on the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border, one of the three key protest sites on the outskirts of the national capital, since November last year.