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Punjab: SKM declines invite from SC-appointed panel for talk
The SKM leaders said that the committee was formed in the context of the blockade at the Shambhu and Khanauri border points between Punjab and Haryana due to a farmers’ stir and the SKM is not part of that agitation
The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), an umbrella body of 32 farm unions, on Wednesday expressed its inability to attend a January 3 meeting convened by a Supreme Court-appointed committee to discuss farmers’ issues. The Supreme Court, in September 2024, formed the committee headed by former Punjab and Haryana high court judge Nawab Singh to address farmers’ demands.
Declining the invite after an internal meeting, the SKM leaders said that the committee was formed in the context of the blockade at the Shambhu and Khanauri border points between Punjab and Haryana due to a farmers’ stir and the SKM is not part of that agitation.
Farmer leader Raminder Patiala, a member of SKM, said that the Supreme Court had constituted the five-member committee to clear the blockades. “The committee was constituted with an aim to engage with protesting farmers (and not us) and lift the blockade. We are not part of the agitation, therefore, there is no point in holding talks,” the SKM leader said.
He added since SKM is neither participating in the ongoing protest nor is a party in the ongoing case in the Supreme Court, therefore, they have declined the committee’s invitation for a meeting.
The SKM has not joined the ongoing stir led by Sarwan Singh Pandher and Jagjit Singh Dallewal, who has been on hunger strike since November 26 to press the BJP-led Centre to accept the farmers’ demands, including a legal guarantee on the minimum support price (MSP) for crops.
The 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 since February 13 last year, after their march to Delhi was stopped by security forces.
SKM added that, in principle, they didn’t accept the intervention of the Supreme Court because the farmers were fighting for a policy change.
“The SKM, in principle, does not accept the intervention of the court because the farmers are fighting on policy issues with the Union government. Hence, the court has no role to play,” the farm body’s statement added.
Notably, both KMM and SM (Non-Political) have also declined to meet the SC-appointed panel.
Senior SKM leader Harinder Singh Lakhowal said the Supreme Court should direct the Centre to hold talks with the protesting farmers and break the deadlock.
Lakhowal said the SKM will be holding a ‘Kisan Mahapanchayat’ at Moga on January 9 and various issues pertaining to farmers will be taken up at the event.
The issue of Dallewal’s hunger strike will also be taken up at the mahapanchayat, he added.
“On January 24-25, the SKM will hold a meeting in Delhi,” he said.
