Farmers' body calls for implementation of demands

Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, March 21

On a call given by Sanyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), the district committee of the Kirti Kisan Union (KKU) today held a protest dharna at the tehsil complex in Jagraon and submitted a memorandum to the President of India through the administration calling for the implementation of all demands that were accepted by the Modi government at the Centre when farmers’ stir was called off.

Addressing farmers, the KKU state president, Hardev Singh Sandhu, said it was unfortunate that the Modi government was now backing out from its written agreement with agitating farmers’ organisations. “Nothing worthwhile seems to have been done towards setting up a committee to look into legislative support to the MSP regime, cases registered against farmers have not been withdrawn, compensation is being denied to those killed during the year-long agitation and on the top of it all law is dragging its feet against perpetrators of the massacre at Lakhimpur Kheri,” he said.

Emphasising the need for unity among the SKM constituents, Sandhu said it was known to everybody that the farmers’ struggle had succeeded only because distance was maintained from political parties. Farmers did not allow any political leader to hijack their agitation, Sandhu added.

He said a faction of the morcha was swayed by allurement of the electoral politics, but better sense had prevailed and the ranks of the SKM were coming together, which was the need of the hour, said Sandhu.

Since a new government had assumed office in the state, farmers’ representative bodies would soon meet the Chief Minister and put forth their pending demands, Sandhu added.

However, farmers’ bodies would not hesitate to launch an agitation if pending issues were not addressed by the state government in a desirable manner, said Sandhu.