No end to agitation till repeal gets Constitutional validity: SKM
Darpan News Desk IANS, 19 Nov, 2021 11:05 AM
New Delhi, Nov 19 (IANS) Hours after Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday announced to repeal the three contentious farm laws, the protesting farmers' consortium declared that their agitation would end only after the laws are repealed in a Constitutional manner in the Parliament, and the government assures legal backing for MSP.
A nine-member committee of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), the consortium of protesting farmers' bodies, will be meeting on Saturday, and it is likely to put forth four main demands.
The meeting will also decide whether the SKM will go ahead with the originally announced 'March Towards Delhi' programme on November 26.
"Today's announcement to repeal the three anti-farmer, anti-people and pro-corporate black laws is welcome, and a historic first victory for the farmers of India. Our demands would include paying tributes to the martyr farmers in the Parliament, legal validity and assurance for MSP, the Minimum Support Price, withdrawal of cases lodged against the agitating farmers across the country and compensation to the families of the farmers martyred during the agitation," the farmer leaders on the Ghazipur border said amid celebrations.
Coinciding with the auspicious occasion of Guru Nanak Jayanti, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday morning announced to repeal the three contentious farm laws passed by the Parliament last year and said the constitutional process to repeal the laws would be taken up in the Winter Session of the Parliament starting November 29. He also appealed to the agitating farmers to end the protests and return to their homes.
Modi also announced to form a committee comprising representatives of the Centre, state governments, farmers, agriculture scientists and agriculture economists to discuss how Minimum Support Price (MSP) can be made more effective, how zero budget farming can be promoted and how crop patterns can be changed in a scientific manner.
Hundreds of farmers have been protesting and camping at Delhi's entry points on all sides, with the Singhu border in north Delhi and the Ghazipur border in east Delhi being the focus points.
While the Singhu border camp has been the headquarter of the SKM, Rakesh Tikait of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) set up his camp on the Ghazipur border.
Tikait, who was in Maharashtra's Palghar on Friday, told mediapersons, "The PM has declared to repeal the three farm laws. But these need to be repealed in the Parliament, only then we will end our protest."
Earlier in the day, calling it a historic victory for the farmers who struggled "resolutely, unitedly, continuously and peacefully for one year so far in the historic farmers' struggle", the SKM had termed Modi's announcement as a welcome step in the right direction.
"The farmers' struggle has led to a reinstatement of democracy and the federal polity in India. Several important demands are pending. Sacrifice of more than 675 farmers in this movement will not be allowed to go waste," a statement from SKM said.
The SKM said that it hopes that "the government of India, which has experienced a major climbdown in this repeal-related announcement, will not allow the announcement to go waste, and will go the full length to fulfil all the legitimate demands of the protesting farmers, including statutory legislation to guarantee a remunerative MSP".
Sonia Gandhi on Monday approved several committees ahead of the Assembly polls in Goa. Girish Chodankar has been retained as the state president and former Chief Minister Digambar Kamat will continue as the Congress legislative party leader while Alexio Sequeira is the Working state President.
After Taliban took over Kabul on August 15, Afghanistan has plunged into a big humanitarian crisis. Pakistan is perceived as having played a major role in bringing the Taliban back to power. As evacuation of foreign nationals winds down, a US missile defence system intercepted rockets fired towards the Kabul international airport.
Adityanath visited the families of those who lost their members and assured them of help. The Chief Minister also visited the 100-bed district hospital at Firozabad where children showing symptoms of the disease are being treated.
The Punjab Chief Minister reminded Khattar and his deputy Dushyant Chautala that the farmers who were protesting against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) meeting in Karnal when the police baton charged them belonged to Haryana and not Punjab.
A video had gone viral of the SDM shouting out instructions to policemen to use force to stop the protesting farmers. Khattar had told a press conference that the officer's "choice of words was not correct" but said, "if any action has to be taken (against the officer), it would first have to be assessed by the district administration."
Speaking at a party function in Amritsar city, Sidhu said "if he is allowed to work according to his own policy of hope and faith, he will ensure Congress rule in the state for 20 years".
