Samyukt Kisan Morcha to oppose BJP in poll-bound states

Mukesh Tandon

Tribune News Service

Panipat, March 2

The Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), an umbrella body of the protesting farmer unions, decided to campaign against the BJP and its alliances in five poll-bound states and the morcha will start campaign from Kolkata on March 12.

Besides, the SKM will block the traffic on the KMP Expressway at various points on the 100th day of protest on March 6 for five hours from 11 am to 4 pm.

Balbir Singh Rajewal, Yogender Yadav, Dharmender Malik, Ramzan Chaudhary, Jogender Nain and Abhimanyu Kohar in a press conference said the morcha had finalised programmes for the next two weeks in the national general body meeting.

Rajewal said the farmers’ protest was going to complete 100 days at Delhi’s border on March 6. That’s why there will be a five-hour blockade of the KMP expressway connecting various protest sites outside Delhi. This would be between 11 am and 4 pm. Toll plazas would also be stopped from collecting toll.

Besides, the day would be marked by flying black flags on houses and offices to signify support to the movement and to protest against the government on March 6. The SKM also asked protesters to wear black bands on that day.

The SKM would mark March 8 as Mahila Kisan Diwas. Women would manage the stages and make speeches on that day, he added.

Yogender Yadav said the SKM had held a meeting with the 10 Central trade unions, who had given a call to mark March 15 as ‘anti-privitaisation day’.

The morcha had decided to support the call of the trade unions by marking the day as ‘anti-coportisation day’ and appealed to farmers to join the protest near railway stations across the country on March 15, Yadav said.

Yadav said it was also decided in the meeting that farmer leaders would move to the poll-bound five states — West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Kerala and Puducherry — to teach a lesson to the BJP for its “anti-farmer” policies.

The leaders’ delegation would start the anti-BJP campaign from Kolkatta on March 12 and then move to other election-bound states.

Protester dies in accident

• A 75-year-old farmer was killed in a road accident near Rai on Monday
• The deceased has been identified as Jeet Singh of Moga district (Punjab)
• His brother, Surjeet Singh, said he and Jeet Singh were crossing the road after having dinner when a car hit his brother
• He was taken to hospital, from where doctors referred him to the PGIMS. He succumbed to injuries on way to Rohtak
• The car driver tried to escape but, after a brief chase, he was nabbed and handed over to the police
• The police said a case had been registered against the car driver