SKM holds Mahapanchayat at Tohana rejects NPFAM draft

Tohana (Haryana), Jan 4 (PTI) Samyukt Kisan Morcha, which has dubbed the newly announced draft of the National Policy Framework on Agricultural Marketing (NPFAM) "more dangerous" than the three repealed farm laws, on Saturday warned the Centre to immediately withdraw it.
     On the call of the SKM, a Mahapanchayat was held here.
     The farmers, mainly from Punjab and Haryana, gathered at the grain market, where many senior leaders of the SKM also participated in the Mahapanchayat which was presided by the presidium formed by all the organisations under SKM.
     The speakers expressed serious concern over the deteriorating health of Samyukta Kisan Morcha (non-political) leader Jagjeet Singh Dallewal, who is on an indefinite hunger strike at Khanauri, and said that if anything happens to him, the responsibility will lie with the central and Haryana governments.
     Senior SKM leaders who addressed the Mahapanchayat here included Joginder Singh Ugrahan, Rakesh Tikait, Dr Darshan Pal, P Krishnaprasad, Raminder Patiala, Manjeet Singh Dhaner, Sukhdev Jammu, Suresh Koth, Joginder Nain, Ruldu Singh Mansa, among others.
     Earlier on Friday, the SKM, which spearheaded year-long farmers' agitation against the repealed farm laws, accused the newly introduced NPFAM of the BJP-led Centre "as more dangerous than the repealed farm Acts".
     About the draft, the farmer leaders, who addressed the Mahapanchayat here on Saturday, warned the Centre to immediately withdraw it.
     In the Mahapanchayat, the NPFAM draft was unanimously rejected, and a resolution was passed urging all village panchayats to send this rejection to the central government by January 10.
     Joginder Singh Ugrahan, while addressing the gathering here, claimed that it would lead to the grain trade falling into the hands of the corporates.
     Talking about the farmers' agitation against now repealed farm laws, Ugrahan said the Delhi agitation did not stand in one day. It took time to build such a movement, he said.
     About the Centre's draft policy, Ugrahan said, "if we have to fight this battle also, many people are not able to understand what this policy is, when we will take it to people, it will be a bigger thing (issue) than the MSP. When the government Mandi system will not remain, who will get the MSP, who will give guarantee to purchase,..the fertile land will also go to the corporates, this is why this battle is big".
     With Dallewal's SKM (Non-Political) and Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM) also holding a "Kisan Mahapanchayat" at Khanauri on the same day as SKM's Tohana event, Ugrahan said so long as the goal is one and we are one on issues to take on the "common enemy" there is no objection.
     BKU leader Rakesh Tikait stated that plans for the next movement around the MSP and other demands will be presented before the Samyukt Kisan Morcha.
     He said the next agitation of the farmers for their demands will not be inside Delhi, but it will be KMP (Kundli-Manesar Palwal expressway) which encircles Delhi, and whose "entire draft", he said, "has been prepared".
     Rakesh Tikait said there has been no talk from the Centre's side with farmers after January 22, 2021.
     Tikait alleged that some people under government's influence will try to "mislead us, work to break our movement and organizations, but we will have to remain wary of this".
     Like Tohana, we held such meetings in UP, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, he said.
     "The next agitation will not be inside Delhi, but around KMP. Entire draft is ready. Whenever that will be held it will be near KMP which encircles Delhi," he said.
     Tikait said Dallewal's health is deteriorating and Centre must take action to save his life.
     Speaking to reporters later, Tikait alleged that the Centre is "benefitting" from the ongoing agitation at Khanauri and Shambhu.
     So, this agitation will continue for some more time. If anyone has a loss it is the Punjab government as the agitation is going on inside the state territory.
     Besides, when shops, roads are closed, a negative impression goes out that it is the farmers' organisations who are doing it, so it makes Centre think the movement is not against them, Tikait alleged.
     The senior farmer leaders said that a national general body meeting would be held on January 24 in Delhi.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)