The farmers’ protest-movement is still on despite all the bad weather, the harsh winter, the rains, the water-cannons, the republic day fiasco, and various other approaches taken by BJP-led centre to paint the farmers in a bad light. Many farmers are still camping at the Delhi borders. Meanwhile, the journey of more farmers from different states across the country has begun for a huge gathering around the parliament planned for late July.
The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) on Thursday said that farmers from 22 states have started their journeys to participate in the protests planned outside the Parliament from July 22 to demand the scrapping of the contentious farm laws and for a legal guarantee on MSP.
Also See: Overview of the Farmers’ unions in the protests
SKM, the umbrella body of more than 40 farmer unions, has planned that nearly 200 farmers will hold protests outside the Parliament every day during the monsoon session beginning July 19. The leaders have not commented on whether they have permission to hold demonstrations outside parliament. But, they have maintained that the protests will be “peaceful”.
Also See: An overview of farmers’ protests- role of Charan Singh
In a statement, SKM said, “The Samyukta Kisan Morcha’s call for Parliament March from July 22 till August 13 has received an overwhelming and enthusiastic response from across the country.”
SKM said that apart from Punjab and Haryana, a large number of farmers from Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra, Telangana, Odisha, West Bengal, Assam, Tripura, Manipur, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan will participate in the protest.
SKM further said that special marches by women are planned on July 26 and August 9. The body added that the marches will also see huge participation from across India, including the north-eastern states.
SKM said, “The parliamentarians shall see farmers from all over India march in a disciplined manner to parliament to place their demands and have their voices heard.”
Also Read: Three Ms of ongoing farmers’ movement- Mewat, Meo & Mahapanchayat- their Social & historical impacts
Punjabi artists extended their support to the farmers’ movement. Such artists who are supporting the farmers’ movement include Gul Panag, Amitoj Mann and Babbu Mann. They performed on Thursday for the protestors camping at the Singhu border.
The artists also appealed to the Indian citizens to extend their solidarity with the farmers’ movement.
The statement from the artists said, “It is noteworthy that all sections of the country are coming out in support of the farmers and it is unfortunate that the Union government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi is unable to do justice to the farmers and stand with them.”
The central government has been projecting the farm-laws as major agricultural reforms. The centre has offered to bring amendments but has ruled out their scrapping.
Thousands of farmers from across the country, who are aggrieved with the contentious farm-laws, have been agitating at the Delhi borders against the three farm laws through various difficulties. They claim that the laws will do away with the Minimum Support Price system, leaving the farmers at the mercy of big corporations like those owned by Adani and Ambani groups.
Also Read: Biden administration may place Ambani and Adani under sanctions guided by Magnitsky Act of 2012
More than 10 rounds of talks have taken place between the farmers and the central government. The eleventh round of talks held on January 22 also failed when the farmers refused to accept the offer of the government to suspend the laws for one and half years. In that round of talks, even the government did not budge from its position on the laws. The talks have failed to break the deadlock between the two parties.
The gathering around the parliament by farmers from 22 states, planned for July 22, falling exactly after six months from the eleventh round of talks, will possibly take the farmers’ movement into another socio-political dimension.
