The key ‘unity’ meeting between protesting farmer unions and the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) on Monday in Patran town ended without any conclusion.
The two farm unions leading the protests at the Khanauri and Shambhu borders between Punjab and Haryana, in Patiala district -- Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM) and SKM (Non-Political) -- and the SKM decided to hold another round of ‘unity’ talks on January 18 to draw a blueprint for a united fight for their demands, including a legal guarantee for minimum support price (MSP) on crops. The talks are being held to decide on fighting the ongoing agitation unitedly.
After the meeting, SKM leaders said the protests will get public support only when farmer unions fight unitedly, a lesson they had learnt from the 2020 stir in Delhi.
The SKM, which led the 2020 agitation against the now-repealed three farm laws, is not part of the stir that has been going on at the Khanauri and Shambhu borders since February 13 last year after a farmers’ march to Delhi was stopped by security forces.
The ‘unity’ meeting, initially scheduled for January 15, was pushed ahead to January 13 at the request of protesting farmers in wake of the deteriorating health of SKM (Non-Political) convener Jagjit Singh Dallewal, who has been on a fast-unto-death since November 26.
SKM leaders Joginder Singh Ugrahan, Balbir Singh Rajewal, Darshan Pal, Raminder Patiala and Yuddhvir Singh attended the meeting held at a gurdwara in Patiala’s Patran town. From the SKM (Non-Political) and KMM faction, Sarwan Singh Pandher, Kaka Singh Kotra, Abhimanyu Kohar, Surjit Singh Phul, Sukhjit Singh Hardojhande and Gurinder Singh Bhangu were present.
Farm leaders in the know of the matter said the meeting lasted for hours. The January 18 meeting is scheduled in the same gurdwara.
{{/usCountry}}Farm leaders in the know of the matter said the meeting lasted for hours. The January 18 meeting is scheduled in the same gurdwara.
{{/usCountry}}After the meeting, leaders from both groups asserted that in-principle, they agreed that the agitation should be fought ‘together’ as their struggle is against the Centre.
Senior SKM leader Ugrahan said it was decided in the meeting that none of the farmer leaders of SKM, SKM (Non-Political) and KMM will make any statement against each other.
“SKM reached a consensus that the agitation should be fought unitedly instead of individually. People support an agitation only when it is fought together. And an agitation (Kisan Andolan 2.0) like this can’t be won without public support. This was one of our learnings from the 2020 Delhi protest. We will hold another round of talks on January 18 and announce future course of action,” he added.
Talks going in ‘right’ direction: Pandher
KMM convener Pandher said, “The unity talks are going forward in the right direction. Today’s meeting took place in a positive environment and in the January 18 meeting, we will work out the modalities to fight unitedly.”
People aware of the developments said the SKM had put forward their demand to include getting the union government’s new draft, national-policy-framework on agricultural marketing, withdrawn. However, consensus couldn’t be reached on the issue.
Dallewal has so far refused to take any medical aid despite his prolonged fasting, which has caused his health to worsen. The attempts for unity between the three organisations failed in February last year and the fresh dialogue started in December after Dallewal started the indefinite fast.
Meanwhile, members of SKM (Non-Political), KMM and SKM burnt copies of the Centre’s draft policy on agricultural marketing.