Chandigarh: Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit and his Haryana counterpart, Bandaru Dattatreya, Tuesday invited protesting farmers of their respective states to receive a memorandum addressed to the Centre, on demands ranging from guaranteed minimum support price (MSP) on all crops and monthly pension to aged farmers, sources in both Raj Bhawans told ThePrint.
The move by the Governors comes in the midst of an ongoing agitation called by the Sanyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) — an umbrella organisation of 32 farmers’ outfits — coinciding with the third anniversary of the “Dilli Chalo” march launched by farmers in 2020 against three controversial farms laws brought in by the Modi government. The laws have since been repealed.
On Sunday, farmers from Haryana and Punjab started a sit-in on the outskirts of Chandigarh. Though the initial call for this month’s protest was for three-days only, farmers’ leaders in conversation with ThePrint hinted that the months in the run-up to next year’s Lok Sabha elections could see a prolonged agitation.
Speaking to ThePrint Monday, Gurvinder Singh Kumkalan, spokesperson for SKM and the Bhartiya Kisan Union (Lakhowal), Punjab, listed some of their demands, including a law guaranteeing minimum support price on all crops, implementation of the Swaminathan panel recommendations on MSP, a farm loan waiver scheme, monthly pension of Rs 10,000 to farmers aged above 60 and compensation to farmers who have suffered heavy losses in this year’s floods.
They are also demanding compensation and jobs for the kin of over 700 farmers who allegedly lost their lives during the year-long farmers’ protest in Delhi (starting 2020-21), cancellation of all FIRs registered against farmers during that stir and justice to the victims of Lakhimpur Kheri violence which took place in the midst of that stir.
Surjeet Singh Phul, president of Bhartiya Kisan Union (Krantikari), Punjab, told ThePrint over phone Monday that, according to the call given by the SKM, the farmers would return home after their three-day sit-in. But, he added, they had come prepared for a longer agitation.
“Even if we return after Tuesday, it doesn’t mean the end of our agitation. This is the most opportune time for us to intensify our stir. The wheat crop has been sown and till April, when it will be harvested, we have free time. With parliamentary elections in May, we want to intensify our protest because we know governments tend to accept people’s demands ahead of polls,” Phul explained.
However, Rattan Mann, president of Bhartiya Kisan Union, Haryana, told ThePrint that the state’s farmers were in touch with those from Punjab, but as of now the Haryana farmers didn’t have a plan to extend the sit-in beyond Tuesday.
“We have come here with plans and wherewithal for a 72-hour sit-in. If the authorities accept our memorandum here in Panchkula, we will submit it and end our agitation by Tuesday afternoon,” said Mann.
He added that if the farmers’ outfits decided to launch a fresh agitation, “we will participate in it”.
ThePrint has reached Sudhir Singh, joint director, media and communication division, Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, on WhatsApp for comment on the stir, the report will be updated if a response is received.
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‘Won’t retreat till demands are met’
On Sunday, farmers associated with 32 outfits from across Punjab came in nearly 3,000 vehicles and gathered on the Mohali-Chandigarh border near the IISER (Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research) Chowk, while those from 17 farmer organisations and trade unions in Haryana started a dharna in Sector 5 parade ground in Panchkula.
Posting a video of the hundreds of tractor-trolleys of farmers at the dharna site in Mohali, Phul wrote on social media platform X (previously Twitter) Sunday that the farmers had begun their agitation on the day (26 November) three years ago and ended their struggle after a year, only after emerging victorious. “Through our struggle, we had given a clear message that farmers would never retreat from the path of struggle till their demands are met,” he stated.
Another account on X, Tractor2Twitter, posted a message in Punjabi Sunday, stating that the right price for crops and labour was the legitimate right of farmers. “Now, it depends on the government whether they want to give the rights through negotiations or through a prolonged agitation,” the post said.
Talking about the future of the agitation, Kumkalan said, “We came here to hold a sit-in in front of the Raj Bhawan and submit our memorandum to the governors, but we have been stopped here in Mohali. The coordination committee of farmers, which comprises leaders of 32 organisations, will meet Tuesday and take a call on the agitation.”
According to Kumkalan, the farmers have come to Chandigarh with enough ration to last at least 10 days. If required, more rations as well as people would be brought in, he added.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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