Farmers gear up to ensure mahapanchayats’ success

A week before the scheduled three mahapanchayats to be organised by the farmers at three places, the unions have started mobilising resources to ensure grand success of the events that would mark the completion of one year of the farmers “Delhi Chalo” protests.

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Meanwhile, another union has appealed to the farmers from across the country to carry water from their fields and reach Khanauri before February 12 in solidarity with Jagjit Singh Dallewal who has been on a water diet for the past 71 days.

“To ensure maximum participation in the February 11 mahapanchayat, farm leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal is set to address farmers via video-conferencing,” said farm union leaders, claiming the mahapanchayats would decide the future course of action even as the Centre remained non-committal on MSP law.

Meanwhile, farm leader Abhimanyu Kohar has appealed to farmers to support Dallewal’s fast and reach Khanauri. “This will highlight the sacrifice of Jagjit Singh Dallewal who has been consuming only water for the last 71 days,” he added.

Kisan Andolan 2.0, under the leadership of Samyukt Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) and the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM), will complete one year on February 13.

The first mahapanchayat will be held at Ratanpura in Rajasthan on February 11. It will be followed by mahapanchayats at Khanauri and Shambhu on February 12 and 13, respectively.

The farm unions have been protesting at Khanauri and Shambhu to press for their demands, including debt waiver and a legal guarantee on minimum support price.

Senior KMM leader Sarwan Singh Pandher said the Centre had already made it clear in Parliament that it was not serious to waive farmers’ debt. “MP Hanuman Beniwal on Monday asked about the possibility of formulating a scheme to waive agricultural loans to empower farmers. The Finance Minister said in her reply that there was no such proposal under consideration at this time. Therefore, it is clear that the Centre is not serious on the issue, despite the farm debt waiver being part of the NDA government’s 2014 manifesto,” he said.