Chandigarh:
A group of 121 farmers, who were on a fast unto death at the Khanauri protest site to show solidarity with farmer leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal after he sought medical help, ended their indefinite fast on Sunday. Dallewal (70) had refused to take any medical help after sitting on a fast unto death on November 26, but he sought medical attention on Saturday after receiving the Centre’s invitation for talks on February 14 to discuss the farmers’ demands. Agreed to take help.
As his health deteriorated and the government did not accept their demands, a group of 111 farmers joined Dallewal’s fast unto death on January 15 near Khanauri on the Haryana border. After this, on January 17, 10 more farmers from Haryana joined him.
A high-level central delegation led by Priya Ranjan, Joint Secretary, Union Agriculture Ministry, on Saturday met farmer leader Dallewal and representatives of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) and Kisan Mazdoor Morcha and called for talks again on February 14 in Chandigarh. Invited to start from.
However, farmer leaders said that Dallewal will not end his indefinite fast until a legal guarantee of minimum support price for crops is given.
The Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) on Sunday described the central government’s proposal for talks with farmers as a major victory and welcomed the decision of fasting farmer leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal to seek medical help. The joint platform of farmer organizations said in a statement “SKM considers the central government’s decision to hold discussions with farmer organizations a major victory,” he said.
The joint platform, which led the 2020-21 farmers’ protests against the three repealed agricultural laws, said the growing unity of farmers forced the government to hold discussions. According to the statement, “SKM welcomes the decision of fasting farmer leader Sardar Jagjit Singh Dallewal to seek medical help and wishes him a speedy recovery.”
SKM called upon all farmers to “respond and stand in protest” against the central government and force it to “withdraw its anti-farmer policies”. It termed the National Policy Framework on Agricultural Marketing (NPFAM) as an attempt to bring back the repealed agricultural laws.
According to the statement, the general body meeting of SKM will be held on January 24 in New Delhi. The joint platform of farmer organizations said, “SKM once again calls upon and warns the central government to desist from working against the interests of the country’s food providers and farmers.” SKM clearly informs and declares to the Government that the farmers of this country are united in their demands, which will have to be met by the Central Government and till then the democratic agitation in all forms against the Central Government will continue.
(This news has not been edited by NDTV team. It is published directly from the syndicate feed.)
