On Rosh Diwas, March 21, 2022, thousands of farmers flooded the streets and warned, via a letter, of resuming protests if the Centre continued to fail on previous assurances.
In a letter written addressed to the President by farmers body Sanyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), leaders condemned the government for faltering on its promises shortly after farmers protesting at Delhi borders lifted their morchas.
“Once again, we request you to remind the Union Government of its written promises and get them fulfilled at the earliest and ensure justice in the Lakhimpur Kheri incident. Through you, we warn the government that it should stop testing our patience. The SKM will observe an MSP Legal Guarantee Week from April 11 to April 17. If the government does not fulfill its assurance till then, the farmers will be left with no other option but to resume the agitation,” said the letter submitted to district administrations.
Farmers reminded that Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Ministry Secretary Sanjay Agrawal promised the SKM on December 9, 2021, that a committee will be formed to discuss Minimum Support Price (MSP) for all crops to all farmers. This written assurance is yet to be realized considering the government neither announced the formation of such a committee, nor provided any information about the nature of the committee and its mandate.
Detailing each demand, leaders spoke about the guarantee that cases filed against farmers during the farmers struggle will be “withdrawn with immediate effect”. However, only the Haryana government issued some orders to withdraw cases. This work too is incomplete and farmers continue to receive summons.
“Delhi Police had announced a few days ago that it would withdraw 17 out of 54 cases, but till now there is no information about which ones will be withdrawn, nor is there any explanation why the rest of the cases will not be withdrawn,” said the SKM.
Even the cases filed by the Railways department against farmers during “Rail Roko” protests were not withdrawn by the Centre. Similarly, administrations also have not announced compensation for the families of martyred farmers.
Instead, farmers were shocked to hear about the bail awarded to Union Minister Ajay Mishra’s son Ashish, the main accused in the Lakhimpur Kheri killings. The SKM has repeatedly asked for Mishra’s removal from the Union Cabinet to ensure a fair trial. However, even after an SIT report admitted conspiracy in the case, the government ignored farmers’ demands. Nowadays, witnesses in the case are suffering attacks in the region, especially after Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh.
Lastly, farmers decried the free trade agreement with Australia that threatens dairy farmers, as per the SKM. Other concerns among leaders include, amendments to the Biodiversity Act 2002, allowance of genetically-modified food through the back door via new FSSAI rules and attempts to cut down on crop purchase with the new quality standard of FCI. Regarding Punjab and Haryana, leaders said the changed rules of the Bhakra Beas Management Board allow for the replacement of the representatives nominated by the state governments with members chosen by the Union Government – another attack on farmers and the federal system, said the SKM.
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