Farmers Movement Archive

After Bengal, farmers to take on BJP in UP

Bathinda: Undeterred by the surge in Covid cases, Sanyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) has decided to turn towards Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, taking their fight to BJP bastions. The morcha decided to take the plunge in these two states after getting positive results in West Bengal and UP Panchayat polls, said senior morcha member Dr Darshan Pal on Sunday. Dr Pal is president of Krantikari Kisan Union, Punjab, which is part of 32 Punjab farm groups. Farmers have been sitting on the borders of Delhi for the last five and a half months, demanding repeal of the contentious farm laws and constitution of a law for legal guarantee of minimum support price (MSP) on all crops. Dr Pal, in an online session at Sanyukt Kisan Morcha’s social media platform, Kisan Ekta Morcha, on Sunday claimed, “The ‘Punish BJP-Defeat BJP’ slogan adopted in West Bengal now will be taken to UP and Uttarakhand with more focus in UP where BJP has started seeing its decline in panchayat polls. The model of social boycott of BJP and its allies, apart from boycott of the products and various services being provided by two corporate houses considered close to BJP top bosses, being successfully used in Punjab and Haryana, will be taken to UP and everyone will see encouraging results of this campaign in the 2022 assembly elections.” He said that a strong campaign would be launched in UP against BJP and its allies, where programmes of the saffron party would be boycotted and its leaders would be shown black flags. Dr Pal claimed that farmers now have a strong presence in the five states of Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, UP and Uttarakhand, apart from Delhi, and this stronghold would be used politically in UP. Earlier, UP-based senior farm leader Rakesh Tikait also stated that the next stop of farmers would be UP.

The Times of India

2021-05-10

Chandigarh