SKM leaders hold ‘secret’ meeting to prepare unity plan

Leaders of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha on Thursday met at an “undisclosed location”, with the talks revolving around the immediate need to forge a unity among farm unions in the wake of the government-ordered police crackdown on them, a farmer leader said.

The farmer leader said, for now, they would continue with effigy-burning programmes.

The Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) is an umbrella body of farmer unions that had led a year-long protest on the Delhi borders in 2020-21 against the now-scrapped three central agriculture laws.

The farm grouping had failed to stitch a united front over farmer issues despite four rounds of talks in the past two months with the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (Non-Political), which spearheaded the protest at Punjab’s border points with Haryana.

In a similar statewide police crackdown, leaders belonging to the SKM were detained on March 4, foiling their plan to hold a week-long dharna in Chandigarh. A day before, farmer leaders had a run-in with CM Bhagwant Mann over the issue at a meeting.

The farmers’ meeting has come a day after SKM leader Rakesh Tikait called for a nationwide unity among farmer unions for a collective action.

Raminder Singh Patiala, a member of the SKM’s national coordination committee, said the meeting was scheduled to address challenges facing the farmer struggle.

“By only presenting a united front, farmers can hope to negotiate effectively with the government and secure their rightful demands,” he said.

The current protest primarily centred on the demands for a minimum support price (MSP) and debt waiver.

Earlier, the SKM had maintained that the broader issue lied in the Draft National Policy Framework on Agricultural Marketing, which they argued retained elements of the now-repealed three central farm laws.

Guramneet Singh Mangat, a leader of the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM), a group that was part of the current stir, acknowledged fundamental differences among the unions but insisted on forging a united front.

He said during the 2020-21 protest, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had agreed to their demands as all farmer unions had fought under one umbrella.

The crackdown has also cast uncertainty over the outcome of the May 4 talks scheduled to take place between farmer bodies and Union government representatives.

Mangat reaffirmed the determination of farmer leaders to continue their struggle. “We will not stop our fight until all our demands, including a legal guarantee on MSP, are met,” he asserted.