Chandigarh: The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), a conglomerate of over three dozen farmer unions across the country that spearheaded the protests against farm laws in 2020-21, is yet to take a call on formally joining the ongoing demonstrations over a host of issues.
With the “Delhi Chalo” cry, more than 200 farmers’ unions from Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh marched towards the national capital Tuesday, demanding a legal guarantee to MSP for all crops, full debt waiver and pension for farmers, the implementation of the Swaminathan Commission’s formula, and the withdrawal of cases against farmers during the 2020 protest.
However, the SKM has said that farmer unions should first ensure the success of the all India “gramin bandh” announced by it on 16 February. It also called upon “like-minded kisan unions” to come together for an “issue-based struggle”.
In a statement issued Monday, the SKM said it had nothing to do with the current protest that is simmering on the borders of Delhi, though the organisation criticised the Haryana government for its unprecedented arrangements to stop agitators.
The conglomerate of 41 farmer unions, which include 32 unions of Punjab, was formed in 2020 to protest the BJP-led central government’s three farm laws. The SKM led the Singhu border agitation but suffered multiple splits after the protest ended in 2021.
In another statement Tuesday, the SKM acknowledged its unity had taken a drubbing after the 2021 agitation, adding it would be wrong if the Indian government depicted the ongoing farmers’ agitation as “divided”.
The SKM said it wished to recall its emergence as an issue-based united movement that had fought the anti-farmer, pro-corporate farm laws. It said farmers had gotten united in that process and were “successful with the active support of the workers and trade union movement of the country in pushing back the government”.
The statement noted that since then there had been disunity which needed to be addressed “especially in the face of renewed corporate led attacks by the Government of India on farmer’s incomes and freedom”. The Centre wanted to depict the farmers’ movement as divided and was trying to divert the people’s attention, it alleged.
On Tuesday, the SKM also wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, stating it would “unitedly” resist any act of authoritarianism and excessive use of state power by the government.
Also read: Barbed wire, concrete slabs, sea of cops & RAF personnel at Singhu border as farmers march to Delhi
Who is in, who is not
Protesting farmers from Punjab are back in the national headlines, seen Tuesday trying to reach Delhi to press for their demands pending since the end of the Singhu border protest of 2021.
This protest is being led largely by two farmer leaders, Jagjit Singh Dallewal and Sarwan Singh Pandher. Dallewal, the president of BKU (Sidhupur), had along with four other farmer unions, formed the SKM (non-political), a breakaway faction of the SKM after the Singhu border protest ended.
Pandher heads the Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee (KMSC) in Punjab, a body that represents farm labourers. Though it participated in the Singhu border protest, it was not a part of the SKM. Pandher also heads a larger body the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha, which includes farm labour unions of some other states, including Rajasthan and Haryana.
Apart from these two, farmer leader Surjit Singh Phool heading the BKU (Krantikari) and Manjit Rai heading BKU (Doaba) have also joined the current protest.
In Haryana, the protest is supported by farmer leader Abhimanyu Kohar. However, Gurnam Singh Chaduni, who headed BKU Haryana and was part of the SKM, is not participating.
Prominent farmer leader from Punjab Balbir Singh Rajewal, who along with over 20 unions of the SKM, had formed the Samyukta Samaj Morcha to contest assembly elections, is also not part of the ongoing protest.
After an unsuccessful bid at political power, Rajewal and five other SKM members formed their own group but returned to SKM two months ago. “We have condemned the manner in which the Government of India is trying to stop the protest at the Punjab-Haryana border. But the SKM is not a part of this protest. We had given a call for the gramin bandh on February 16th. We are going ahead with our own program,” Rajewal told ThePrint.
Farmer leader Joginder Singh Ugrahan, who heads the largest farmer body in Punjab — the BKU (Ugrahan) — has also not joined the current protest. “We were never invited for the programme which Dallewal started. We are a part of the SKM and we will go by what the SKM decides,” said Sukhdev Singh Kokrikalan, general secretary of BKU (Ugrahan).
Shiv Kumar, alias Kakkaji of Rashtriya Kisan Mazdoor Mahasangh, is supporting the current protest. He was detained in Bhopal Sunday when he was about to leave for a meeting between Union ministers and farmers in Chandigarh the next day.
Rakesh Tikait, of the BKU, has also condemned the manner in which the Haryana government tried to stop protesters but has not joined the protest formally.
(Edited by Tikli Basu)
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