Haryana and Telangana farmers witnessed massive rallies on February 21, 2021 to decry the three central farm Acts and demand a legal guarantee of Minimum Support Price (MSP).
The All India Kisan Mazdoor Kisan Sabha (AIKS) organised a large rally and jan sabha in Maktal city of Narayanpet district in Telangana on Monday wherein thousands of people assembled in solidarity with farmers. In Kharkhoda district of Haryana, thousands of farmers assembled to listen to the speeches of leaders Gurnam Singh Charuni and Rakesh Tikait.
The huge mobilisation showed the widespread awareness in the state as well as its neighbor Punjab. Accordingly, farmers organisations decided to move mahapanchayats to other states to raise similar awareness.
Further, Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) congratulated Khap leaders in several places of Uttar Pradesh for supporting the farmers’ movement by refusing to meet with Union Ministers until they resign from their posts in the government. The SKM said that Union Minister Sanjeev Balyan could not meet khap leaders in western Uttar Pradesh. According to NewsClick, Bhainswal villagers from Shamli district sloganeered “Sanjeev Balyan Murdabadad, Kisan Ekta Zindabad” when Balyan reached the area.
Meanwhile, farmer leaders acknowledged and denounced the arrests of activists such as Farhat Jamali and others.
“It is clear that the Government is fearful of the ongoing farmers’ agitation. Anyone from other sectors of our society supporting this movement is being targeted and intimidation tactics are being used to attempt to crush such solidarity. This was apparent in the case of Disha Ravi and others. Now, an activist from Rampur in Uttarakhand, Farhat Jamali has been arrested when he arrived at Ghazipur protest site to lend his support,” it said.
International support for Indian farmers continues to gather strength following the solidarity statement issued by 87 farm organisations from the United States. A tractor rally was organised in Australia on Monday in support of the farmers’ movement. The rally which saw participation by Indian diaspora in Australia also had the virtual participation of SKM leaders.
Despite the growing support, Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said on February 21 that “laws cannot be repealed by collecting a crowd.” The SKM condemned this statement dubbing it an “insult to the farmers movement” and farmers from whom the party in power collected its votes.
“We would like to remind Tomar and others in the government that current protests are a consequence of deep unhappiness and anger that was allowed to build up in farmers’ minds by the government. Today, farmers are getting support pouring in from all sides, nationally and internationally. The protestors are not a crowd, but our annadatas, thanks to whom we are all alive, including people in the government. This sort of insulting attitude towards our farmers is highly condemnable,” said the SKM.
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