India's protesting farmers pay homage to the 143 farmers martyred in their movement and reject Centre's offer to stay farm laws / 42-year old Haryana farmer dies by suicide at Tikri border
People have trust issues with the government. What if they implement these laws again after a stay for a short period? We, therefore, decided to reject the proposals of the government.” ... A statement on behalf of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha, the umbrella body of organisations spearheading the protest, released by Darshan Pal of Krantikari Kisan Union, stated: “In a full general body meeting of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha today, the proposal put forth by the Government yesterday was rejected. A full repeal of three central farm acts and enacting a legislation for remunerative MSP for all farmers were reiterated as the pending demands of the movement.”
42-year old Haryana farmer dies by suicide at Tikri border
The Morcha, the statement said, “pays homage to the 143 farmers who have been martyred in this movement so far… Their sacrifice will not go in vain and we will not go back without the repealing of these farm laws”. It referred to a meeting with Delhi Police officers earlier in the day and said while police had requested the farmers not to conduct a tractor parade in Delhi on Republic Day, they had reiterated that they intend to go ahead with their plan of a parade on the Outer Ring Road of Delhi.
Maintaining that their protest was becoming a “people’s movement… nationwide”, the Morcha said farmers were uniting in Karnataka, many parts of Kerala, Chhattisgarh, Bilaspur and Rampur in Uttarakhand. “Farmers, labourers and common people under the leadership of Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan are reaching Shahjahanpur border. Protests against neo-liberal policies are being conducted through puppets shows and songs,” it said. Ahead of the meeting of the Morcha, the Kisan Ekta Morcha, in a Twitter post, had said “jis kaam ke liye aaye thhe, usko poora kiye bina wapas nahi jayenge (we will not go back till we complete the work for which we had come)”.
Rakesh Tikait, president of BKU (Tikait) and one of the spokespersons for the Morcha, said: “We came here to get the laws repealed. After long deliberations, we came to this conclusion that we will not return till the laws are repealed. We can stay here for six more months, it hardly matters to us. People have trust issues with the government. What if they implement these laws again after a stay for a short period? We, therefore, decided to reject the proposals of the government.” “On MSP, we will tell them to make an Act to assure minimum support price for the produce of farmers. Regarding the Republic Day tractor parade, we will be meeting Delhi Police again on Friday, though they have denied us permission for the parade on Outer Ring Road,” he said....
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