Farmers will once again march to Delhi, decides Jandiala Guru Mahapanchayat; here are their demands

Farmers will once again march to the national capital more than two years after the landmark protest against three farm laws ended, a Kisan Mahapanchayat decided on January 2 at the town of Jandiala Guru in Punjab’s Amritsar district.

The farmers will march to Delhi on February 13, 2024, according to the joint call by 18 farmer and worker organisations of north India and the Samyukta Kisan Morcha in Jandiala Guru’s Dana Mandi.

The farmer leaders addressing the Mahapanchayat accused the current government at the Centre as well as previous ones of having worked to sell the country’s resources to domestic and foreign corporate houses. They alleged the present regime had taken this work forward the fastest.

Dalip Singh, a farmer who attended the Mahapanchayat, said, “The government is following the policy of handing over the country’s agriculture and land to corporate houses. Our villages and agriculture are already going through a crisis. If the government continues to do this, we will be completely destroyed.”

Farmers from Punjab’s Majha and Malwa regions, along with those from Haryana participated in the Mahapanchayat. Tejbir Singh, a farmer from Haryana’s Ambala, said, “Before 2014, the Bharatiya Janata Party had talked about implementing the Swaminathan Committee Report and paying 1.5 times the cost of farm inputs. It has been 10 years. No promise has been fulfilled."

Singh added that farmers had not yet got justice for the death of their counterparts from Lakhimpur Kheri during the 2020-2021 agitation. “The conditions on which we ended the 2020-21 movement have not been fulfilled till date. Neither was a law on minimum support price (MSP) made, nor was the bill on electricity withdrawn.”

“We have started preparations for an agitation against the central government in Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand over the demands of the farmers,” Bharatiya Kisan Union (Krantikari) President Baldev Singh Zira said. “It will be a  movement similar to 2020-21,” he added.

Attendees at the Jandiala Guru Mahapanchayat appealed to the Centre and states to impose a complete ban on drugs, provide treatment to suffering youth and open the Wagah and Attari international borders for trade in agricultural products.

The issues of sugarcane mills in Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh were also raised. The Mahapanchayat also supported the recent strike by truck drivers and appealed the government to reconsider the law regarding hit-and-run cases.

A Mahapanchayat similar to Jandiala Guru will be held in Barnala in Punjab’s Malwa region on January 6.

Sarwan Pandher, one of the organisers of these mahapanchayats, said, “The previous agitation was fought by all farmer organisations together as a united front. This time too, we are trying to get all the farmer organisations together and start a big movement in February. A committee has been formed to bring all organisations under one umbrella. By January 20, a united front of all farmer organisations will be ready again.”

For the past several months, farmers’ organisations have been engaged in mobilising farmers from village to village in Punjab. The main demands of the farmers marching to Delhi are as follows:

• A law should be made to guarantee MSP for the purchase of all crops
• Crop insurance schemes should be implemented in accordance with the Swaminathan Commission Report 
• Complete debt relief for farmers and farm labourers
• The amendments made in 2015 to the Land Acquisition Act of 2013 should be repealed. The Act should be implemented in its original form
• Agreements made by India with the World Trade Organization should be annulled
• A pension scheme of Rs 10,000 per month should be implemented for 58-year-old farmers and farm labourers
• Electricity Bill 2020 should be cancelled completely
• The culprits of the Lakhimpur Kheri massacre should be punished and the police case filed during the march to Delhi should be canceled
• The families of the those who died in the 2020-2021 agitation should be compensated as promised and other demands should be fulfilled

Subscribe to Daily Newsletter :

SUPPORT US

We are a voice to you; you have been a support to us. Together we build journalism that is independent, credible and fearless. You can further help us by making a donation. This will mean a lot for our ability to bring you news, perspectives and analysis from the ground so that we can make change together.