Farmers Movement Archive

Himachal Pradesh: Will keep up fight for MSP, say apple growers

SHIMLA: Himachal Kisan Sabha, the state unit of All India Kisan Sabha and a major constituent of Sanyukt Kisan Morcha, has expressed happiness over Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decision to withdraw the new farm laws and has termed it as a historic victory of the farmers’ movement. Himachal Kisan Sabha claimed that the new farm laws were anti-farmer and made it clear that till the withdrawal of these laws through proper parliamentary process, the farmers will not end their struggle. At the same time, the Kisan Sabha made it clear that the struggle for the minimum support price (MSP) will continue. What will be the nature of the struggle and what will be the methods, it will be decided only after the guidelines of the Sanyukt Kisan Morcha, it added. Rakesh Singha, former general secretary of Himachal Kisan Sabha and CPIM MLA from Theog, said that the government had left no stone unturned to defame the farmers’ movement and a conspiracy was hatched to defame farmers by calling them a terrorist and Khalistani. He said that an attempt was made to divide farmers between Haryana-Punjab, Sikh-Jaat, rich farmer-poor farmer but the government finally had to kneel before the solidarity of the farmers. Singha said that farmers should not forget that the central government is the killer of about 700 farmers,, and farmers should unite and continue their fight for the remunerative price as per Swaminathan Commission report. State president of Himachal Kisan Sabha, Kuldeep Singh Tanwar, said that there are many issues of farmers in Himachal Pradesh on which farmers will have to fight on the lines of the national movement. He said that Himachal Pradesh is yet to get the MSP and the farmers are also deprived of the crops for which the minimum support price has been fixed. He said that regular mandis for the purchase of food grains have not yet been established in the state, and farmers of Kangra and Mand are facing the brunt of this. He said that on the lines of Jammu and Kashmir, the farmers of the state are asking for market intervention scheme (MIS ) for apples. He said that there is neither support price for vegetables nor proper compensation for destruction in natural calamity. He added that the farmers’ movement at national level has instilled a new confidence in the farmers of Himachal Pradesh.

The Times of India

2021-11-20

Shimla