Farmers Movement Archive

Meet to finalise strategy for Oct 2 farmers’ protest held

Bhopal: Nine months after the farmers’ agitation in Delhi, an extensive campaign will be kicked off in the country from October 2, Gandhi Jayanti. The strategy was finalised in Bhopal after a meeting of Rajendra Singh and PV Rajagopal, chief of the Ekata Parishad. Rajendra Singh later said, “After nine months a new baby — Bharat Punarnirman abhiyan — is born to support the farmers." Singh and Rajgopal held day-long meeting along with other activists in Bhopal on Thursday to finalise strategy for the October 2 agitation. Singh, known as waterman of India for his innovative works on water conservation, told TOI, “A meeting of farmers from 23 states held in Chennai on August 22, has already taken a decision to start this campaign, which will last till November 26 when it will culminate in Delhi.” The farmers issue along with those related to the conservation of water would be raised all across the countrywide campaign in the form of rallies and yatras. August 26 marks nine months of the farmers’ agitation when they started protest at a Delhi border in December last year. Demanding scrapping of the three ‘contentious’ farm laws, more and more farmers joined the andolan at more Delhi borders. Now, to further strengthen the agitation, according to Sanyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), farmers from southern India have been arriving at the protest sites on Delhi borders. “More farmers from distant locations are joining the protest sites. Hundreds of farmers from Tamil Nadu reached the Singhu border. A contingent of farmers from Karnataka also addressed the gathering at Ghazipur border,” the SKM said. “Now farmers’ agitation will start from the capital cities of all the states the way it started from Punjab 9 months ago. It will go around across and highlight the issue,” Rajendra Singh said. The three controversial laws that the farmers have been demanding to be repealed, will do away with the Minimum Support Price system, leaving them at the mercy of corporate, the SKM has maintained. Over 10 rounds of talks with the government that has been projecting the laws as major agricultural reforms have failed to break the deadlock between the two parties.

The Times of India

2021-08-28

Bhopal