CHANDIGARH: Farmer leader from Punjab Sarwan Singh Pandher on Sunday said a group of farmers, led by their leaders, will march towards Delhi on foot on December 6 even as he lashed out at the Centre for not holding any talks with the protesting farmers for resolving their issues, including a legal guarantee on the MSP. Farmers under the banner of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (non-political) and Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM) have been camping at the Shambhu and Khanauri border points between Punjab and Haryana since February 13, after their march to Delhi was stopped by security forces. Addressing reporters here on Sunday, KMM leader Pandher said farmers have been protesting at Shambhu and Khanauri for 293 days.
Sharing details about their plan to march towards the capital from Shambhu, Pandher said the first “jatha” (group) of farmers will be led by Satnam Singh Pannu, Surinder Singh Chautala, Surjit Singh Phul and Baljinder Singh. The group that will carry essential items with it will head towards Delhi peacefully, he said.
The first group of farmers, during their march to Delhi, will stop at the Jaggi city centre in Ambala, the Mohra grain market, Khanpur Jattan and Pipli in Haryana, he said. Pandher said the farmers will walk every day from 9 am to 5 pm and spend the nights on the road. He added that the number of farmers in the first group will be shared later.
Lashing out at the BJP-led Centre, Pandher said it has not held any talks with the protesting farmers since February 18. Accusing the Centre of running away, he said, “They have stopped the talks with us.” “Contract farming is not acceptable to us. We are demanding a legal guarantee on the MSP (minimum support price) for crops,” he said.
A panel of three the then Union ministers — Arjun Munda, Piyush Goyal and Nityanand Rai — held talks with the farmer representatives on February 18. The farmers had then rejected the Centre’s proposal of buying pulses, maize and cotton at the MSP by government agencies for five years. Farmer leader Guramneet Singh Mangat said when the first group of farmers starts marching towards Delhi on December 6, farmer bodies in Kerala, Uttarakhand and Tamil Nadu will take out marches towards their respective state assemblies.
Meanwhile, SKM (non-political) leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal continued his fast unto death at the Khanauri border point. Farmers, who have been seeking a legal guarantee on the MSP, have been camping at the Shambhu and Khanauri border points since February 13. The protesting farmers had attempted to march towards Delhi on February 13 and February 21 but were stopped by the security forces deployed at the capital’s borders.
Besides a legal guarantee on the MSP, the protesters are demanding farm loan waiver, pension for farmers and farm labourers, no hike in the electricity tariff, withdrawal of police cases and “justice” for the victims of the 2021 Lakhimpur Kheri violence, reinstatement of the Land Acquisition Act, 2013 and compensation to the families of the farmers who died during a previous agitation in 2020-21.