400 farmer outfits to take part in 'Kisan Mahapanchayat' on March 14: SKM

The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), which spearheaded a farmers' agitation in 2020-21, said on Saturday that more than 400 farmer outfits will participate in a "Kisan Mahapanchayat" in Delhi on March 14 to press the BJP-led Centre to accept their demands, including a law on the minimum support price (MSP) for crops.

Thirty-seven farmer bodies, which are part of the SKM, held a meeting on Saturday regarding their proposed "mahapanchayat" at Delhi's Ramlila Maidan.

Talking to reporters, Bharti Kisan Union (Lakhowal) general secretary Harinder Singh Lakhowal said farmers are continuously struggling for their demands.

In continuation of their struggle, it was decided that a "mahapanchayat" will be organised in the national capital on March 14, he added.

More than 400 farmer organisations from across the country will take part in the "mahapanchayat", farmer leaders said.

They said they will not travel to Delhi by tractor trolleys, but through buses and trains.

They said they are continuously raising their voice against the Centre regarding their demands, including a legal guarantee on the MSP for all crops and cancellation of the FIRs registered against farmers during the 2020-21 agitation.

On February 22, the SKM announced that it would hold the "mahapanchayat" in Delhi.

Meanwhile, the farmer leaders also rejected the "zero" FIR registered by the Punjab Police in the Shubhkaran Singh death case.

Singh was killed and around 12 police personnel were injured in clashes at the Khanauri border between Punjab and Haryana on February 21.

The SKM (Non-Political) and the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM) are spearheading a "Delhi Chalo" march of farmers to press the Centre to accept their demands.

However, the SKM was not part of the "Delhi Chalo" call.

The march was put on hold for two days after Singh was killed on February 21. Two days later, the farmer leaders said the protesters would continue to camp at Khanauri and Shambhu on Punjab's border with Haryana till February 29.

Previously, the farmer leaders rejected the Centre's proposal for procuring pulses, maize and cotton at the MSP by government agencies for five years, saying it was not in their favour.

In the fourth round of talks with the farmer leaders on February 18, a panel of three Union ministers proposed that government agencies would buy pulses, maize and cotton at the MSP for five years after entering into an agreement with farmers.

The farmers are also demanding the implementation of the Swaminathan Commission's recommendations, pension for farmers and farm labourers, no hike in the electricity tariff, withdrawal of police cases and "justice" for the victims of the 2021 Lakhimpur Kheri violence in Uttar Pradesh, reinstatement of the Land Acquisition Act, 2013 and compensation to the families of the farmers who died during the 2020-21 agitation against three farm laws that have since been repealed.