Farmers Movement Archive

SKM pays tributes to martyrs of ’40s stir

Bathinda: Sanyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) observed the 72nd martyrdom day of tenant peasants killed during the Muzara Lehar, a movement in the 20th century that succeeded in securing the rights for oppressed tenant peasants, by paying tributes to those who fell to the atrocities during 1930-40s. Family members of the martyrs were felicitated at Tikri border protest site on Friday. Four peasants were killed in police firing at Kishangarh village in Mansa on March 19, 1949. Morcha leaders recalled the oppression faced by tenant peasants at the hands of colonial forces and princely states. The Left leaders Hardev Arshi and Kulwant Singh Kishangarh, who belong to the area, said that Teja Singh Sutantar, Dharm Singh Fakkar, Jangir Singh Joga, Chajju Mal and many more freedom fighters fought against the system of the time and succeeded in ensuring tenant farmers gain rights on lands. “It is time for all of us to force the central government to repeal the laws so that farmers could heave a sigh of relief,” said Arshi. Farm organisation BKU (Ekta Ugrahan) too remembered the martyrs. “The Malwa region was the epicentre of the muzara movement as tenants in over 700 villages were at the receiving end for raising their voice,” said BKU (Ekta Ugrahan) vice-president Jaswinder Singh Longowal. tnn

The Times of India

2021-03-20

Chandigarh