The Kisan Mazdoor Morcha and SKM (Sanyukt Kisan Morcha), the umbrella bodies leading the farmers’ protest in North India, have called for a Punjab Bandh on December 30. The call for the shutdown was issued by farmer leader Jaswinder Singh Longowal at a press conference after the ‘Rail Roko’ protest on Wednesday. During the railway blockade, the farmers occupied railway tracks in Punjab to press for their demands.
Longowal called on all farmers of Punjab to unite and press for their demands.
VIDEO | Punjab: Protesting farmers block railway track in Mohali as part of their ‘Rail Roko’ agitation.#FarmersProtest
(Full video available on PTI Videos – https://t.co/n147TvrpG7) pic.twitter.com/DcnLpI2BZt
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) December 18, 2024
Before the ‘Rail Roko’ protest, farmer leader Sarwan Singh Pandher said, “Close to 50 farmer labourers commit suicide every day. Reports say that in 2022, farmers bore a loss of approximately 15 lakh crore due to not getting MSP, and 8.5 lakh crore in 2023… We are getting ready for bigger protests in the future. Today or tomorrow we will announce it. Almost all tracks that cross Punjab will be jammed.
#WATCH | Amritsar | Farmer Leader Sarwan Singh Pandher says, “Close to 50 farmer labourers commit suicide every day… Reports say that in 2022, farmers bore a loss of approximately 15 lakh crore due to not getting MSP, and 8.5 lakh crore in 2023… We are getting ready for bigger… pic.twitter.com/pt77BIce9i
— ANI (@ANI) December 18, 2024
What Are The Protesting Farmers Demanding?
The farmers have been staging protests for nearly a year now. Among their key demands are a legal guarantee for minimum support price (MSP) for crops, “justice” for those who died during the Lakhimpur Kheri violence in 2021, debt waiver, pension for farmers and labourers, reduced electricity rates, enhanced compensation for land acquisition and 10% reservation of plots on developed land for housing, and MGNREGA employment in farming for 200 days.
Earlier farmers’ groups protesting along the Shambhu and Khanauri borders rejected an offer to hold talks with the Supreme Court-appointed committee on Wednesday, December 18. On Tuesday night, the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), an apolitical umbrella body of farmers, and the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha sent a letter to the committee’s chairman, retired Punjab and Haryana High Court Justice Nawab Singh on the matter.
In the letter, they stated that they would engage in discussions only with representatives of the central government, as they believe such committees are merely symbolic and ineffective. The farmers acknowledged the respect they hold for the Supreme Court-appointed committee and mentioned that they had met with the committee on November 4. According to the letter, the committee had invited them for a meeting in Panchkula on Wednesday.
