Kisan Morcha Writes To President Over ‘Betrayal’ By Modi

In a memorandum sent to the President of India, the Samyukta Kisan Morcha, which was at the forefront of opposing Central farm laws during over an year-long protest at several points of Delhi borders, have raised several issues where they feel “betrayed” by the assurances given by Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he announced the repeal of the “black laws”.

LokMarg brings you the Morcha’s memorandum verbatime as follows hereunder

Honorable President,

You are aware that under the banner of “Samyukta Kisan Morcha”, the farmers of the country launched an unprecedented movement for the repeal of the anti-farmer law of the Union Government, for securing legal guarantee for the minimum support price, and against other anti-farmer policies. Due to this movement, the three anti-farmer laws were repealed with your signature.

Thereafter, on 21st November 2021, the Samyukta Kisan Morcha wrote a letter to the Prime Minister, drawing his attention to the six outstanding issues. In response to this, Shri Sanjay Agarwal, Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, wrote a letter (Secretary/AFW/2021/Misc/1) to the Samyukta Kisan Morcha on December 9th, 2021, in which he gave assurances on behalf of the government on some issues and appealed to withdraw the movement. In the basis of this written assurance, the Samyukta Kisan Morcha decided to suspend the morcha on the Delhi border and various other peotests from December 11th.

Your Excellency, it is with deep sadness and anguish that we inform you that once again the farmers of the country have been cheated. The Government of India has not fulfilled any of the assurances in its letter dated 9th December. That’s why farmers across the country have decided to observe Vishwasghat Diwas (Day of Betrayal) on 31st January 2022.

You can see for yourself the difference between the words and deeds of the government:

The *promise* in the letter was: “The cases filed against farmers during the farmers’ movement will be withdrawn with immediate effect. Consent to withdraw the case has been given by the Government of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Haryana. … It is agreed by related departments and agencies of the Government of India to withdraw all the agitation related cases registered against the protesters and supporters in all the Union Territories including Delhi with immediate effect.”The *reality* is that no action has been taken by the Union Government, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Himachal Governments on the assurance of withdrawing the cases filed during the agitation. Farmers are constantly getting court summons in these cases. Only the Haryana government has done some paperwork and issued some orders to withdraw the case. But still this work is incomplete, and farmers are being summoned.

The government’s *promise* was: “The Government of India will also appeal to the other states to withdraw the cases registered related to this farmers’ movement.”The *reality* is that not even a letter has been sent by the Union Government.

The government’s *promise* was: “The Haryana and Uttar Pradesh government have also given in-principle consent for compensation to the families of martyrs of the movement.”The *reality* is that the Uttar Pradesh government has not initiated any action on compensation to the martyr farmers’ families. No decision has been announced by the Haryana government regarding the amount and nature of compensation.

The *promise* of the government was: “On MSP, the Honorable Prime Minister himself and later the Honorable Agriculture Minister have announced the formation of a committee. … one of the mandates of the committee would be how to ensure that farmers of the country get MSP.”The *reality* is that the government has neither announced the formation of the committee on this issue, nor has given any information about the nature of the committee and its mandate.

In the Lakhimpur Kheri massacre case, despite the SIT report affirming the charge of pre-planned conspiracy, Ajay Mishra Teni, the main conspirator of this case, continues to remain in the Union Council if Ministers violating every constitutional and political norm. This is adding insult to the injury. On the other hand, the Uttar Pradesh Police is active in implicating and arresting the farmers accused in this incident.

Not only this, ever since the morcha was suspended, the Union Government is moving ahead with its anti-farmer agenda. The negotiations on Free Trade Agreement with Australia threaten the existence of the dairy farmers. Amendments to the Biological Diversity Act 2002 is an invitation to biopiracy of the farmers’ wealth. GM food is being allowed through backdoor entey by making new regulations governing the FSSAI. Efforts are being made to cut down on the purchase of the crop with the new quality standard brought in by the FCI.
Your Excellency, you are the head of the state. It is your constitutional obligation to protect the interests of the Annadata farmers, the largest section of the country, and warn the government against committing this fraud on the farmers. You know that today the country has become self-sufficient in food grains because of the toil of the farmers. Due to the tireless efforts of the farmers, despite the lockdown and the economic slowdown, the agricultural production of the country has increased continuously. Playing tricks with farmers can be disastrous for the whole country.

Through this letter, the Annadatas of the country request the head of the country that the government must not forfeit their trust. The regime should stop testing the patience of the farmer. You should remind the Union Government of its written assurances to the farmers and get them fulfilled at the earliest. If the government reneges on its written assurance, the farmers would be left with no option but to resume their agitation.

Yours respectfully,
(For: Samyukta Kisan Morcha, ……………. District/Tehsil …………… State)