Farmer unions’ meet today to decide on agitation course

New Delhi, Nov 20 (PTI): After its decision to repeal the three agri laws, the Centre is now facing pressure from agitating farmer unions and opposition parties to bring in a legislation guaranteeing Minimum Support Price, with ruling BJP MP Varun Gandhi also joining the chorus on Saturday saying the stir won’t end till this issue is resolved.
The Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), an umbrella body of the agitating unions, is meeting on Sunday to decide on the next course of action, including on the MSP issue and the proposed daily tractor march to Parliament during the upcoming Winter Session, SKM core committee member Darshan Pal said.
Farmer leaders said the protesters will stay put at border areas of Delhi until the Centre formally repeals these laws in Parliament after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s surprise announcement on Friday and indicated their stir for a statutory guarantee of MSP and withdrawal of the Electricity Amendment Bill will continue.
“Our call of tractor march to Parliament still stands. A final decision on the future course of the agitation and MSP issue will be taken in a meeting of the SKM at Singhu Border on Sunday,”Darshan Pal told PTI on Saturday.
While the opposition needled and mocked the government after it agreed to rollback the farm laws, BJP MP Varun Gandhi, who had deviated from the party line to speak out in favour of the protesters, wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging him to accept the farmers’ demand for a statutory MSP guarantee.
The MP from Pilibhit in Uttar Pradesh said if the decision to repeal farm had been taken earlier, “innocent lives would not have been lost”.
“This movement will not end without the resolution of this (MSP) demand and there will be widespread anger amongst them, which will continue to emerge in one form or the other. Therefore, it is very important for the farmers to get the statutory guarantee of MSP for their crops,” he wrote and also demanded that Rs 1 crore compensation be given to farmers martyred in the movement against the laws.
Like Varun Gandhi, BSP chief Mayawati also demanded a law to guarantee MSP and withdrawal of cases against the protesters.
“There should be a new law to ensure the minimum support price for the produce of farmers, and barring cases of serious nature, all cases registered against farmers, who are the country’s pride, should be withdrawn. This should be ensured by the Centre, and it would then be appropriate,” she tweeted.
The Congress and Left parties have also demanded that a law should be enacted on the MSP guarantee while repealing the three laws from last year.