Kisan Mahapanchayat at Muzaffarnagar attended by lakhs; farm leaders take on BJP

A historic Kisan Mazdoor Mahapanchayat lakhs of farmers from all over the country was held by the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) in Muzaffarnagar on September 5. It will prove to be a turning point in the Indian political landscape, said a press release issued by SKM.

The huge GIC ground was overflowing with lakhs of enthusiastic and determined farmers. There was an unending flow of people, tractors, cars and buses. The entire city had turned into a rally ground.

A sea of people cutting across States, religions, castes, regions and languages came together to send a loud and clear message to the BJP governments at the Centre and in Uttar Pradesh (UP).

Lakhs of farmers had come from Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and several other states from all over the country. Women and youth farmers had come in massive numbers. It was perhaps the largest farmers' rally in India so far, according to the SKM press release.

Resounding slogans of Kisan-Mazdoor Unity and those calling for the defeat of the anti-farmer BJP government were raised numerous times during the rally. Hundreds of langars, medical camps and mobile clinics had been set up to help the farmers who had come from all over.

The Muzaffarnagar Mahapanchayat inaugurated the SKM's Mission Uttar Pradesh-Uttarakhand, which will strengthen the farmers' struggle in both states for the repeal of the three farm laws and for a central law to ensure Minimum Support Price (MSP) at C2 + 50% and will leave no stone unturned to ensure the resounding defeat of the BJP in the coming state assembly elections. The Kisan-Mazdoor agenda will triumph over the communal and casteist politics of the BJP-RSS, all speakers said. The Mahapanchayat declared that the farmers will never allow communal riots to happen in the future.

SKM said that the UP government was ruling on the policy of 'divide and rule' and communal policy of caste and religion of the British government. This Mahapanchayat, it said, was to send a warning to the Union and the State government. Despite the rally of lakhs of farmers with the support of all castes, religions and classes, if the government does not repeal all three agricultural laws and does not give a legal guarantee for the purchase of agricultural products, then the movement will be intensified. The leaders of the SKM said that a plan for the struggle on the issue of unemployment would soon be made.

The promises made by the Yogi government to the farmers have not been fulfilled, lamented the SKM. Even 20 per cent of the promised procurement had not been done. The UP government had promised a loan waiver for 86 lakh farmers, while only 45 lakh farmers have received the loan waiver. The Commission for Agricultural Costs & Prices (CACP) has found that in the year 2017, the cost of sugarcane was Rs 383 per quintal, but farmers were paid Rs 325 per quintal, and sugarcane mills owe farmers Rs 8,700 crore. In Uttar Pradesh, crop insurance was paid to 72 lakh farmers in the year 2016-17, while in 2019-20, only 47 lakh farmers were paid, where crop insurance companies earned a profit of Rs 2,508 crore. The Mahapanchayat decided to announce an agitation in the upcoming meeting of the SKM demanding a rate of Rs 450 per quintal for sugarcane as promised by the UP government.

The Mahapanchayat also gave a clarion call to make the Bharat Bandh on Monday, 27th September, a massive success all over the country. The earlier date of September 25 has been changed due to unavoidable circumstances.

The public meeting was addressed by all the main SKM leaders, and by leaders from all the states present. They also included several women and youth speakers. The leaders included Rakesh Tikait, Naresh Tikait, Dharmendra Malik, Rajesh Singh Chauhan, Rajveer Singh Jadaun, Amrita Kundu, Balbir Singh Rajewal, Jagjit Singh Dallewal, Dr Darshan Pal, and several Khap leaders.

The SKM congratulated and thanked the lakhs of farmers who braved all the obstructions placed by the Yogi Adityanath government, and called upon them to take the torch of the farmers' movement to every corner of India until victory is achieved.