Kisan to celebrate Vijay Diwas tomorrow
Having weathered rain, heat, bone-chilling cold, and Covid-19 pandemic for 378 days during which around 715 lives were lost, the farmers on Thursday decided to suspend their agitation after the Government repealed three controversial agriculture laws and accepted all their demands.
“The agitation is being suspended because the Centre has agreed to all our demands. Battle has been won and the war to ensure farmers’ rights, especially to secure the minimum support price (MSP) as a legal entitlement for all farmers, will continue,” said Gurnam Singh Chadhuni, farmers’ leader and one of the members of the core committee of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), an umbrella body of 40 farm unions. Chadhuni added that the agitation could be resumed if the Centre “backtracks from its promises”.
The farmers’ groups said considering that the nation is mourning the demise of Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat and his associates, they have also postponed their “Fateh March” (Victory Day celebrations) on Thursday and will vacate Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur borders in Delhi after holding a grand “Victory Day” (Vijay Diwas) parade at all protest sites and toll plazas across the country on Saturday.
The decision was taken at a meeting of the SKM earlier in the day after a written proposal from Sanjay Agarwal, Agriculture Secretary, was received on the pending issues of farmers accepting all demands put forward by the protesting farmers, including the withdrawal of cases registered by central agencies and the State Government and compensation to the families of farmers who had died during the course of the movement against the contentious agriculture laws.
The Government had sent a draft proposal to the farm unions on a plain paper on Wednesday, saying that in light of the concessions proposed, there was no justification for the agitation to continue, and requested the unions to end it.
“This is not the end as the movement is just suspended. We have decided to meet again on January 15 in Delhi to review whether the Government has acted on the proposals agreed upon,” farmer leader Balbir Singh Rajewal said.
After the announcement of suspension of the agitation, protesters were seen dismantling their tents and packing their baggage.
SKM core committee member Shiv Kumar Kakka on behalf of the morcha apologised to residents and businessmen who faced problems due to the agitation.
In a statement, the SKM thanked all those who supported their movement and said the SKM will monitor and review whether the Government has kept its commitments with regard to the withdrawal of police cases against protestors and compensation for the kin of those who died, as well as the progress on the committee to ensure MSP is given to all farmers. “To ensure that the the Government is keeping to its commitments made to the protesting farmers, and to chart out future course of action, SKM will hold its next meeting on January 15th in Delhi,” it said.
After Fateh March at Singhu and Tikri protest sites on Delhi’s borders on December 11 around 9 am, Punjab farm leaders plan to pay obeisance at the Golden Temple in Amritsar on December 13.
Border protest sites were brimming with energy and farmers were eager to go back home. However, there was no major celebration because of the demise of General Rawat in the crash. The farmer leaders also paid tributes to those killed in the unfortunate incident.
With farmers set to vacate the protest sites at Delhi’s borders, commuters will heave a huge sigh of relief as roads closed for over a year will reopen, ending their traffic woes. Those travelling from Delhi to Ghaziabad, Noida and Haryana and vice versa had a tough time due to road closures and traffic diversions.
Earlier, the farmers were also demanding that Union Minister Ajay Mishra, whose son Ashish has been tried in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence case, be sacked. However, as the matter is subjudice the SKM’s five-member panel had removed that point.
The letter sent to the SKM by the agriculture secretary said in light of the concessions proposed, there was no justification for the agitation to continue and requested the unions to call it off. According to the amended proposal, the Centre will also appeal to other States to withdraw all cases lodged against protesters during the agitation. The revised document said the Governments of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Haryana - all BJP ruled states - have agreed to simultaneously withdraw all cases lodged against the protesters with immediate effect.
All the cases lodged against protesters and their supporters in Delhi and by different central agencies, such as NIA and ED, will also be withdrawn. On the Electricity (Amendment) Bill, the new draft States that the Government will hold discussions with all stakeholders and SKM before introducing the Bill. There was a status quo on stubble burning in the revised draft - the Government had agreed to decriminalise certain sections and remove criminal liability.