Samyukt Kisan Morcha condemns ‘excessive’ use of police force

Chandigarh, February 13

The Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), though not a part of ‘Dilli Chalo’ protest, today has strongly condemned the Modi government for resorting to ‘excessive’ use of state power through lathi-charge, rubber bullets, tear gas shelling and mass arrests to prevent the march of farmers’ organisations. It is surprising that drones were used to drop tear gas shells on the farmers by the administration, it said.

“The SKM calls on all its member organisations and their units across India to strongly protest against the attack on farmers in Punjab, on February 16 in all villages across India and make the ‘grameen bandh’ and industrial/sectoral strike across India more massive, extensive and successful,” said an official statement.

It further said that unleashing police and armed security forces to attack the peaceful struggle of farmers revealed that the Modi government had lost the confidence of the people. In a democratic society every citizen has the right to protest peacefully. The government has the responsibility to resolve the burning issues of each section of the society and address the demands to protect their livelihood.

The SKM has warned the Centre not to treat the people who are forced to come on the road for their genuine demands as the enemies of the government or the country. The main demand of the farmers for getting MSP on all crops in accordance with the formula prescribed in the Swaminathan commission report (C2+50%) had been the promise of BJP and the present PM in the election manifesto of 2014 and even after 10 years the promise had not been implemented.