New Delhi, Oct 2 (PTI) The fight over electoral rights cannot be left to political parties and activists alone, and must be taken to villages and factory sites as part of a broader mass movement, All India Kisan Sabha leader and Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) member P Krishnaprasad said, as the farmers’ body prepares to take up the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) issue at village-level mahapanchayats from Saturday.
The remarks came ahead of the SKM’s nationwide village mahapanchayats starting October 3, where the farmers’ body plans to bring the SIR issue into discussions that have traditionally centred on agricultural demands, such as a minimum support price for crops, farm debt and land rights.
The meetings will continue till October 23 and are also intended to build grassroots-level mobilisation for the SKM’s proposed intensification of its farmers’ struggle from November 26.
“Along with the crucial demands in mainstream politics, including the MSP and other farmers’ demands, the SIR is also coming up. It is not only a question of protesting for our demands, the right to protest itself is under threat and democratic rights, including the right to vote, are being curtailed,” Krishnaprasad told PTI.
“The Election Commission (EC) was supposed to ensure that citizens have the right to vote. Now, it is dictating terms. We have to go to villages, factory sites and build a class and mass movement,” he said.
The SKM will hold village mahapanchayats across the country from October 3 to October 23, with the meetings expected to discuss the SIR exercise alongside the farmers’ long-standing demands, including a legal guarantee on the MSP.
The SKM has proposed three resolutions for adoption at the village meetings — the implementation of the written assurance given by the Centre to the organisation on December 9, 2021, the construction of a memorial at the Singhu border for the farmers who died during the 2020-21 agitation and the removal and prosecution of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over alleged irregularities in the SIR.
The EC has defended the exercise and said its decisions on the SIR were taken collectively.
Krishnaprasad said the alleged scale of voter deletions has made the issue a wider democratic concern.
“Thirteen crore is a big number. It shows, in our view, a systematic elimination of minorities, Dalits and adivasis. They will become outsiders within the country and will have to run from pillar to post. It will create a huge human crisis. This cannot be allowed,” he said.
“After the farmers’ struggle and the students’ struggle, the struggle for democratic rights will become a bigger issue,” Krishnaprasad added.
The village mahapanchayats are part of the SKM’s preparations to intensify its farmers’ movement from November 26. The organisation has said the meetings will discuss how to develop villages as centres of mobilisation and generate resources to sustain the struggle. Each mahapanchayat will also prepare a list of 10 volunteers.
The SKM’s seven principal demands include a law guaranteeing the MSP at C2+50 per cent with an assured procurement of all crops, a comprehensive farm loan waiver, withdrawing measures relating to electricity privatisation, protection of land rights, a monthly pension of Rs 10,000 for farmers and farm workers aged above 60 years, and a repeal of the four labour codes.
It is also demanding a minimum wage of Rs 42,000 for workers and the restoration of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) with 200 days of work at Rs 700 per day, besides opposing free-trade agreements and seeking changes in crop insurance and agricultural policies.
The SKM will hold a National Council-General Body meeting in Haryana’s Karnal on October 12 to decide the future course of the movement and its strategy for the proposed intensification from November 26.
The village mahapanchayats will begin on October 3, observed by the SKM as the Lakhimpur Kheri Martyrs’ Day, marking the fifth anniversary of the deaths of four protesting farmers and journalist Raman Kashyap during the 2021 farmers’ agitation. PTI AO RC
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