Farmers will not return home till they win: BKU leader Gurnam Chaduni

The Bharatiya Kisan Union is fighting for farmers' rights and they will not return home from Delhi's borders till the new agri laws are repealed, the farm organisation's Haryana president Gurnam Singh Chaduni said on Wednesday.

He also said the union will hold programmes, such as panchayats and mahapanchayats, to make the country aware that the government at the Centre is "not for the people but of corporates".

Farmers, mostly from Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, are protesting at Delhi's borders against the legislations since November 28 last year and demanding these be repealed.

"We are fighting for the rights of farmers and they will not return home till they win, and time does not matter in this struggle," Chaduni, who was on his way to Moradabad for a mahapanchayat, told reporters in Uttar Pradesh's Gelua village.

"This government is not for the people but of corporates and only people can fight with it. We will hold panchayats in the entire country and make people aware and associate them with us," he said, a day ahead of a "rail roko" announced by the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), an umbrella body of farmer unions which is spearheading the protest.

Chaduni alleged that the entire agri business was being given to corporates and said the farmers' movement was for their "survival".

"Agriculture is our livelihood and not our business. The food grains of the country will go into godowns of corporates and they will indulge in black marketing. This is an 'andolan' (movement) not only of farmers but of all," he said.

Farmers are protesting against the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020, the Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.

The three farm laws, enacted in September last year, have been projected by the government as major reforms in the agriculture sector that will remove middlemen and allow farmers to sell anywhere in the country.

However, the protesting farmers have expressed apprehension that the new laws would pave the way for eliminating the safety cushion of Minimum Support Price and do away with the mandis, leaving them at the mercy of big corporates. The Centre has repeatedly asserted that these mechanisms will remain.