Stop spreading canards against farmer movement: SKM | India News
BATHINDA: The national level meeting of the Sanyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) held on Friday at Delhi has expressed anger against the central government accusing it of making baseless and dishonest allegations in the Newsclick FIR against the historic farmer struggle. The FIR accuses the farmers movement as anti-national, funded by foreign and terrorist forces.
Farmers movement was a committed, patriotic movement, drawing parallels with 1857 and the freedom movement against foreign loot. It correctly read the nefarious plan of farm laws to withdraw government support from agriculture and hand over farming, mandis and food distribution to corporations, stated the SKM after the meeting.
The farm laws were thrust on the country, the contract law legally bound farmers to grow what the corporate would buy, would be contracted to purchase costly inputs (seeds, fertilizers, insecticides, fuel, irrigation, technology, services) and sell their crop to the company. The Mandi Act forbade government operation, government procurement and price fixation (MSP) to allow a nexus of big companies to dominate crop trade at the lowest price with online networking and private silos. The Essential Commodities Amendment Act allowed freedom to hoarders and black marketeers, stated the SKM
The farmers of India read through this subterfuge. They exposed the corporate plan of depriving the people of food security, pauperising the farmers, of changing cropping pattern to suit corporations and allowing free penetration of MNCs into India’s food processing market. They rose as one, rose as a wave in a turbulent ocean, surrounded Delhi and forced the stubborn government to relent, it further stated.
In the process the farmers braved water cannons, teargas shelling, road blocks with huge containers, deep road cuts, lathi charge, cold and hot weather. Over 13 months they lost 732 farmers. They lent voice to the most helpless and deprived sections. This was a patriotic movement of the highest quality in the face of repression by a government serving interests of Imperialists, SKM said in the statement released in Friday.
Indian farmers feed 1.4 billion people. They provide subsistence and work to 68.6% population. Government investment in agriculture infrastructure, promotion of profitable farming, development of the life of village poor and facilitation and securing of modern food processing, marketing and consumer network under the collective ownership and control of peasant-worker cooperatives will bring revolutionary change in peoples’ economy. It will make India as well as people of India rich, it further stated.
However, in service of corporate and MNCs, central government has launched another attack on farmers. It has used an undemocratic law, the UAPA, which allows the government to charge citizens of being terrorists, hence obviously anti national, without having to prove that charge for decades, as even bail is denied, stated SKM.
They have used UAPA to charge Newsclick media house which wrote to support the farmers movement. The government is using the farcical FIR to spread a canard that the farmers’ movement was anti-people, anti-national and backed by terrorist funding. This is factually wrong and mischievously inserted to portray the movement in bad light and seeking to extract revenge for the humiliating defeat they suffered at the hands of the farmers of our country.
Central government, after having withdrawn the farm laws, is moving again now to charge farmers movement of being foreign funded and sponsored by terrorist forces! All this while central government is promoting FDI, big corporations into agriculture.
It stated SKM will organise village level campaign against the FIR from November 1 to 5. Leaflets explaining the motive of the FIR and to rally the farmers to prevent the government from throttling farmers’ economy to help corporate and MNCs will be distributed door to door in villages. November 6 will be observed as All India Protest Day and copies of the FIR will be burnt at the Tehsil and district headquarters.
SKM also decided to campaign in five poll bound states with the slogans- “Oppose Corporate, Punish BJP, Save Country.”
The 72 hour long sit-in struggle at the Raj Bhawan from November 26 to 28 will be organised with participation of farmers and workers across the country under the banner of platform of central trade unions, stated the SKM.
Farmers movement was a committed, patriotic movement, drawing parallels with 1857 and the freedom movement against foreign loot. It correctly read the nefarious plan of farm laws to withdraw government support from agriculture and hand over farming, mandis and food distribution to corporations, stated the SKM after the meeting.
The farm laws were thrust on the country, the contract law legally bound farmers to grow what the corporate would buy, would be contracted to purchase costly inputs (seeds, fertilizers, insecticides, fuel, irrigation, technology, services) and sell their crop to the company. The Mandi Act forbade government operation, government procurement and price fixation (MSP) to allow a nexus of big companies to dominate crop trade at the lowest price with online networking and private silos. The Essential Commodities Amendment Act allowed freedom to hoarders and black marketeers, stated the SKM
The farmers of India read through this subterfuge. They exposed the corporate plan of depriving the people of food security, pauperising the farmers, of changing cropping pattern to suit corporations and allowing free penetration of MNCs into India’s food processing market. They rose as one, rose as a wave in a turbulent ocean, surrounded Delhi and forced the stubborn government to relent, it further stated.
In the process the farmers braved water cannons, teargas shelling, road blocks with huge containers, deep road cuts, lathi charge, cold and hot weather. Over 13 months they lost 732 farmers. They lent voice to the most helpless and deprived sections. This was a patriotic movement of the highest quality in the face of repression by a government serving interests of Imperialists, SKM said in the statement released in Friday.
Indian farmers feed 1.4 billion people. They provide subsistence and work to 68.6% population. Government investment in agriculture infrastructure, promotion of profitable farming, development of the life of village poor and facilitation and securing of modern food processing, marketing and consumer network under the collective ownership and control of peasant-worker cooperatives will bring revolutionary change in peoples’ economy. It will make India as well as people of India rich, it further stated.
However, in service of corporate and MNCs, central government has launched another attack on farmers. It has used an undemocratic law, the UAPA, which allows the government to charge citizens of being terrorists, hence obviously anti national, without having to prove that charge for decades, as even bail is denied, stated SKM.
They have used UAPA to charge Newsclick media house which wrote to support the farmers movement. The government is using the farcical FIR to spread a canard that the farmers’ movement was anti-people, anti-national and backed by terrorist funding. This is factually wrong and mischievously inserted to portray the movement in bad light and seeking to extract revenge for the humiliating defeat they suffered at the hands of the farmers of our country.
Central government, after having withdrawn the farm laws, is moving again now to charge farmers movement of being foreign funded and sponsored by terrorist forces! All this while central government is promoting FDI, big corporations into agriculture.
It stated SKM will organise village level campaign against the FIR from November 1 to 5. Leaflets explaining the motive of the FIR and to rally the farmers to prevent the government from throttling farmers’ economy to help corporate and MNCs will be distributed door to door in villages. November 6 will be observed as All India Protest Day and copies of the FIR will be burnt at the Tehsil and district headquarters.
SKM also decided to campaign in five poll bound states with the slogans- “Oppose Corporate, Punish BJP, Save Country.”
The 72 hour long sit-in struggle at the Raj Bhawan from November 26 to 28 will be organised with participation of farmers and workers across the country under the banner of platform of central trade unions, stated the SKM.
