The Samyukt Kisan Morcha, spearheading the anti-farm laws protests, on Friday called for a 'Bharat Bandh' on September 25.The SKM said the move is aimed at further strengthening and expanding the farmers' agitation which completed nine months on Thursday.Addressing a press conference at Delhi's Singhu border, Ashish Mittal from SKM said, "We are calling for a 'Bharat bandh' on September 25. This is happening after a similar 'bandh' was organised on the same date last year, and we hope that it would be more successful than the one last year which was held amid the COVID-19 pandemic."
Mittal, who was also the convener of the all-India convention by farmers that concluded on Friday, said the two-day event was a success, and saw the participation of representatives from 22 states, of not just 300 farm unions but also members of organisations that work for the welfare of women, labourers, tribals as well as youth and students.
During the convention, discussions and deliberations took place on the farmers' struggle that has been going on for the last nine months, and it focused on making their agitation against the farm laws a pan-India movement, he said.
"During this convention we understood how the government has been attacking the farming community with the pro-corporate laws, and how by capturing the market, farmers' produce will be bought at lower prices."The government which is on the verge of bankruptcy, is trying to recover the money from the farmers, labourers and the common man by increasing the fuel prices and prices of cooking gas. All these anti-public steps are to benefit the corporate. It is important to strengthen our agitation against all of these factors," Mittal said.
He added that their demands for repeal of the three farm laws, legal guarantee for MSP of all crops, repeal of Electricity Bill, 2021, and no prosecution of farmers under the 'Commission of AQ Management in NCR and Adjoining Areas Bill 2021' were also reiterated during the convention.
Mittal also elaborated on the farmers' upcoming rally in Uttar Pradesh scheduled to take place in Muzaffarnagar on September 5, saying it is expected to witness the participation by lakhs of people."A call for strengthening this movement will be made from there. The movement will be taken to every zila there, and we have appealed to people to participate in large numbers.
"We have also appealed to farmer and labour organisations at the zila and lower levels to come together and discuss the impact of these laws and create a collective agitation across the country," he said.On Thursday, the farmers' protest against the three contentious laws completed nine months since they first arrived at the Delhi borders. The farmers have been demanding the repeal of the laws which they are afraid will do away with the MSP system, leaving them at the mercy of big corporations.Over 10 rounds of talks with the government that has been projecting the laws as major agricultural reforms have failed to break the deadlock between the two parties.
