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farm laws, the protesting farmers' consortium declared that their agitation would end only after the laws are repealed in a Constitutional manner in the Parliament, and the government assures legal backing for MSP.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".
The 'rebel' legislators reached Dehradun in the morning to apprise Rawat about the mood of the public against the Amarinder Singh-led government in the state. They, among 20-odd party legislators, have been demanding replacement of Amarinder Singh as he failed to fulfill the 2017 poll promises.
Rao also slammed Chief Minister Pramod Sawant for raking up 10-year-old allegations related to the mining scam in an attempt to put Congress leaders in the dock in pollbound Goa.
According to the customs department, one male passenger aged 27 years, flew in from Dubai by Emirates flight EK-544 was intercepted at exit gate and his baggage which were found to be unusually heavy were subjected for detailed examination.
According to the sources, the panel members were reported about the delay and red tapism in the bureaucracy which has been hampering the pace of development in Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh and many new schemes announced by the Union government were getting affected.
Its convenor and founder K.C. Singh, a former envoy to the United Arab Emirates, and Iran, said the manch wants to focus on challenges facing Punjab today and take the people's views.
Shiromani Akali Dal President Sukhbir Singh Badal on Wednesday hailed the victory of his party in the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) elections as "a forceful referendum of the Khalsa Panth in favour of the panthic identity and religious commitment of the party".
