Farmers' gatherings across India marks one year of Samyukt Kisan Morcha agitation

New Delhi, Nov 26 (IANS) Assemblies, rallies, marches, and chakka jams, etc across various states were held to mark the one-year completion of the farmers' agitation that prompted the government to withdraw the three contentious farm bills.

Along with the nationwide protests held in solidarity with the trade unions, not only organisations of students and youth, women, civil society, and other unions came together in the support of the farmers, but numerous international organisations lent their support and solidarity to the movement by holding events outside India too, a release from the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) said.

SKM is the consortium of 40-odd farmers' organisations that spearheaded the farmers' agitation since last one year when the Parliament had passed those three laws vehemently opposed by the farmers.

"On November 26, 2021 our struggle completes one year. This day marks 12 long months of the farmers' struggle, with numerous victories, which seemed unlikely, and even impossible, but were achieved with a will and determination to continue to fight for the unfulfilled demands of the farmers. The farm movement stands as a testimony to the will of the common people to fight against an unrelenting government, and for a long time, will be remembered as an example of peaceful satyagraha inspired by Mahatma Gandhi and the Indian freedom movement," the statement said.

"The day was marked with programmes at the Delhi morchas, state capitals and the district headquarters. Various trade unions, student and youth organisations, women's organisations, civil society organisations, and other unions came together in support of the nation's annadatas," it said, adding, "Large assemblies were held at Singhu, Tikri, Ghazipur and Shahjahanpur morchas, which were attended by SKM leaders."

Lakhs of farmers came together in support of the farm movement at the programs held in various states such as Karnataka, West Bengal, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Jharkhand, Telangana, Odisha among other states.

Numerous international organisations lent their support and solidarity to the movement, it said. "India's farmers have inspired the world with their resilience. They have shown us what a united struggle of the working class and the peasantry can achieve even in the face of all adversities. Over the last year, this protest has stitched alliances with workers unions and other social movements and issued inspiring messages of solidarity, communal harmony, and unity among rural societies," said the letter of support by the international farmers' organization La Via Campesina.

The farm movement was also endorsed by over two dozen international organisations.

The farmers celebrated their victory in the form of the Prime Minister's announcement for the repeal of the three anti-farmer laws, while raising the still-pending demands of the farm movement.

The SKM, in its letter to the Prime Minister on November 21, had raised six demands, namely, legal guarantee of MSP for all produce based on C2+50 per cent formula; withdrawal of draft Electricity Amendment Bill, 2020/2021; removal of the penal provisions on farmers in the Commission for Air Quality Management in the National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas Act 2021; withdrawal of false cases against the farmers over the course of the movement' dismissal and arrest of Minister of State Ajay Mishra Teni, and compensation and rehabilitation to the families of the martyrs of the farm movement and allocation of land to build a memorial in their memory at Singhu morcha, the release said.