Farmers Movement Archive

Onus of withdrawing cases on farmers lies with Centre, says Samyukt Kisan Morcha

The onus of withdrawing cases registered against farmers during the course of their year-long agitation since last year lies with the Union government, even though the cultivators have been booked by state governments, the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) said on Friday.The SKM, which is a platform of over 40 farm unions, claimed that states such as Haryana, which is governed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), were waiting for a signal from the Centre to decide on the criminal cases against the cultivators.“(The) SKM notes that Haryana government’s representatives are repeatedly saying that they will act on the Centre’s instructions, when it comes to withdrawing hundreds of cases filed against tens of thousands of farmers,” a statement released by the platform said.The SKM asks the “government of India to move forward formally in this matter”, it added.Haryana alone has slapped over 300 cases on farmers on various charges, a prominent leader of movement, Gurnam Singh Chaduni said.The SKM’s remarks came a day ahead of a crucial meeting on their future course of action, after the Centre repealed the three contentious agricultural laws on November 29. There is an expectation in some quarters that the farmers could call off their protest and engage with the government on the issue of codifying minimum support prices, another of their demands.A day after the farm laws were repealed, Chaduni said farm unions may decide to participate in a committee proposed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to look into issues related to cultivation and minimum support prices (MSPs) if it is a “concrete” step towards guaranteeing prices of agricultural produce. If this happens, it could be a much-needed breakthrough in the deadlock between tens of thousands of protesting farmers and the Modi government.Farm unions termed the repeal as their “first major victory” but wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 22, listing their remaining demands which include bringing a law to ensure minimum support prices for farm produce, revocation of a proposed electricity bill, which farmers said would make power costlier, and compensation for all farmers who died during protests.In the statement on Friday, the farm unions reiterated their demand for compensation even as the Union government, on Wednesday, told Parliament that it has no data on farmers who died during the year-long protests, and hence, the question of compensation did not arise.“Over 700 farmers have died during the protests, whose families must be compensated because they have lost an earning member of their families,” Chaduni said.The SKM said farmers would continue to prevent BJP leaders from visiting their villages if their demands were not met. On Wednesday, several farmers gathered in Dhrauli Khera village of Uchana in Jind (Haryana) to ensure that Haryana deputy chief Dushyant Chautala did not enter the area, it added.Farm leaders said they were waiting for the Centre’s response on their demands as the repeal of what they called “black laws” were not sufficient to assuage the peasants.“We haven’t received any information or signal from the government on what it is doing to meet our pending demands. In tomorrow’s meeting, all these matters will be discussed,” Charuni said.

Hindustan Times

04-12-2021

India