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The two-day long All India Farmers Convention concluded with a call for Bharat Bandh on September 25, 2021 to expand and intensify its agitation to every village and corner. Accordingly, leaders appealed to farmers to show up for a massive protest rally at Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh on September 5.
As the farmers’ struggle nears to completing a full year of protest outside national capital borders, the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) resolved to strengthen the agitation afresh. As many as 2,000 odd delegates attending the two-day convention on August 26 and August 27 raised slogans calling for the repeal of the three famr laws, a legal guarantee of MSP and the repeal of the new Electricity Bill and clauses against farmers in the name of Air Quality in NCR, New Delhi.
Trade union leaders, youth groups, women organisations, tribal leaders and others at the event also passed resolutions against recent communal attacks on minorities and the privatisation of India’s public sector.
Summing up the views expressed in the Convention, Organising Committee Convenor Dr Ashish Mital said, “It is quite obvious that the entire farming community is forced to fight a government serving corporates and MNCs for control over all aspects of agriculture, food storage and marketing. The changes being instituted will lead to widespread increase in farmer debts, suicides and displacement from land.”
He warned that like agriculture other assets meant to ensure employment and security like Railways, Power Transmission lines, Natural gas resources, Telecom projects, food storage, Insurance, Banks are also in danger.
“There is an attack on the basic rights of industrial workers through the four labour codes. Welfare and service sector for the poor, particularly subsidies and the PDS are under target. Prices of essential items, particularly fuel, are being raised steeply,” said SKM leader Darshan Pal.
On top of discussing farmers’ four major demands, delegates called upon farmers to form state-level and district-level SKM units with the help of supporting organizations. This will help in organising conventions, rallies, oppose toll extractions and protests against BJP and NDA leaders for refusing to accept farmers’ demands.
The Convention concluded that all proposals of changes to ‘solve’ the issue, advanced by the central government, provide no relief to farmers’ apprehensions of corporate takeover of agriculture and loss of land and livelihood.
It exhorted farmers to continue peaceful protests and commended the movement for uniting people across religions, castes and regions.
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