From a correspondent of Mazdoor Ekta Committee
The Central Government headed by Prime Minister Modi calculated that the withdrawal of the three central farm laws in December 2021 will put an end to the kisan andolan. However, kisans have persisted in fighting for their right to secure livelihood. Their struggle has taken various forms. It has been taking place in every state and at district level.
The National Meeting of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha, held in Delhi on 30th April 30, attended by more than 200 representatives of kisan unions from all over the country, took several important decisions to escalate the struggle in the coming months. The meeting decided that mass protests and agitations will be held in all states from 26 to 31 May, highlighting the core issues, including:
- Law to guarantee minimum support price for all agricultural products
- Debt waiver
- Pension for farmers and agricultural workers
- Comprehensive crop insurance scheme
- Arrest of the Union Minister whose son is responsible for the killing of farmers in Lakhimpur Kheri
- Withdrawal of false cases against farmers
- Compensation to the families of farmers who have lost their lives in the agitation
The meeting decided to submit memorandums to all Members of Parliament in their home constituencies. It decided to hold state and district level conventions all over the country during the months of May, June and July, so as to increase mass mobilization. It decided to organise united mass protests of workers’ unions and kisan unions between 1-15 August, against the central government’s policies in favour of the big corporate houses, at the expense of workers and peasants.
The National Meeting of SKM also decided to organise all-India yatras all over the country between September and November, focusing on states where assembly elections are due, including Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Telangana. An all-India Shaheedi Diwas will be held on 3 October, the day on which farmers at Lakhimpur Kheri were killed. All-India Vijay Diwas will be celebrated on 26 November, to mark the beginning of the historic kisan protests at the Delhi borders in 2020. Day-night dharnas will be held for at least 3 days in all state capitals.
The national meeting of SKM also adopted resolutions:
(a) in support of the women wrestlers who are on dharna at Jantar Mantar, demanding the arrest of the WFI president, Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh;
(b) condemning the use of central agencies such as the CBI against former Governor Satya Pal Malik, who has been a steadfast supporter of the farmers movement and SKM;
(c) condemning the de-recognition of the oldest unions of postal workers of India – National Federation of Postal Employees and All India Postal Employees’ Union – by the central government, for supporting and contributing funds to the kisan andolan at Delhi’s borders; and
(d) expressing solidarity with the postal workers’ unions.
The path forward for the workers and peasants in our country is the path of strengthening their fighting unity against the big capitalists and their government.
Life experience shows that our demands will not be fulfilled as long as the capitalist class controls the state machinery and all the decisions of the government. In the course of waging the struggle for our immediate demands, we workers and peasants have to become a political force capable of displacing the capitalist class from its position of power and taking India’s destiny in our hands.
Workers’ and peasants’ rule will open the path for lifting agriculture and all of society out of crisis. A workers’ and peasants’ government will guarantee reliable supply of agricultural inputs at their true values and public procurement of all agricultural products at remunerative prices. It will link the public procurement system to a public distribution system geared to ensure the availability of all essential consumption goods at affordable prices for all.