Farmers Movement Archive

Kisan Sabha condemns cancellation of gram sabhas

The All India Kisan Sabha on Friday condemned the cancellation of gram sabhas dubbing it as an assault on the panchayati raj, guaranteed by the Constitution. In a statement, the All India Kisan Sabha has slammed the government for cancelling the conduct of the gram sabhas at the last minute on Thursday night. The meetings that were slated to be held on May 2 and August 15 were not held due to the pandemic and the resultant lockdown, it said. However, while the lockdown restrictions were relaxed, the government led by Edappadi K Palaniswami has at the eleventh hour cancelled the scheduled gram sabhas. The cancellation was a result of the government’s fear of farmers’ opposition to the farm legislations, the statement said. According to the AIKS, the AIADMK was party to the passage of the contentious farm bills in Parliament, and hence, feared the wrath of the farmers, who were poised to pass resolutions against the legislation in the meetings that were initially scheduled to be held on October 2. The cancellation of the gram sabhas allegedly following the DMK’s declaration that gram sabhas will adopt resolutions against the farm legislation has been condemned across the board. Meanwhile, DMK MLA T. Senguttuvan convened a “gram sabha” in Kangaleri Panchayat explaining the farm legislations and what it meant to the farmers and the reasons for the opposition to the legislations. Similar ‘sabhas’ were held in Hosur, Thally and Vepanapalli under the respective DMK MLAs.

The Hindu

2020-10-03

DHARMAPURI,TAMIL NADU