Several farmers’ organisations, including the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), its non-political breakaway faction and the All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS), criticised the India-US trade deal on Saturday, announcing nationwide protests for February 12.
In a statement, the SKM said the proposed interim trade agreement framework amounted to a “total surrender” of Indian agriculture to American multinational corporations and demanded the immediate resignation of Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal.
Addressing a press conference, SKM leaders said protests would be held in villages across the country, with effigies of US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi to be burned. The SKM also said it would support the general strike scheduled for February 12.
AIKS leader Krishna Prasad said the deal would have a far-reaching impact on agriculture by opening the market to products such as dried distillers’ grains, red sorghum for animal feed and soybean oil, adding that it could also affect the dairy sector.
He said trade deals with the US and the European Union were intended to benefit their “stagnant” economies and were not in India’s interests.
Darshan Pal, leader of the Krantikari Kisan Union (Punjab), said his organisation would also burn effigies of Mr Trump and Mr Modi in protest, arguing the deal would worsen the situation of farmers already struggling with low incomes and debt.
Bhartiya Kisan Union leader Rakesh Tikait said villagers were questioning how the deals would affect them and urged farmers to join the protests.
In a statement, the SKM said, "The framework is an abject rejection of the claim of the Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal that the agriculture and dairy sectors are out of the Free Trade Agreements and the Government of India will not make any compromise on the interests of agriculture."
"The commerce minister is consciously propagating falsehood and betraying the farmers and the entire people. SKM considers the role of the commerce minister as a traitor and demands his immediate resignation," the SKM said.
"Also, SKM demands that the prime minister desist from signing the India-US Free Trade Agreement or face massive pan-India united mass struggles," it said.
The SKM appealed to all the political parties, farmers and agricultural workers' organisations, trade unions and all the mass and class organisations to join the protest demonstrations on the February 12 general strike.
The SKM (Non-Political) also said in a statement that it would soon hold a meeting and announce large-scale protests against the India-US free trade agreement, adding that Indian farmers will not tolerate any such agreement.
According to the statement, farmer leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal said that while Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal is tweeting that agriculture and the dairy sector will be protected, the India-US joint statement says that India has agreed to discuss and resolve non-tariff barriers imposed on US agricultural and food products.
Dallewal said these two positions are contradictory, and the joint statement makes it clear that under US pressure, the Indian government has agreed to open Indian markets to American agricultural products, which will cause severe losses to Indian farmers.
India and the US announced on Saturday that they have reached a framework for an interim trade agreement, under which both sides will reduce import duties on a number of goods to boost the two-way trade.
According to the deal, while Washington will reduce the tariffs on Indian goods to 18 per cent from the present 50 per cent, New Delhi will eliminate or cut down import duties on all US industrial goods and a wide range of American food and agricultural products, including dried distillers' grains, red sorghum for animal feed, tree nuts, fresh and processed fruit, soybean oil, wine and spirits.
According to a joint statement, India has expressed its intention to purchase US energy products, aircraft and aircraft parts, precious metals, technology products and coking coal worth $500 billion over the next five years.
The Joint Platform of Central Trade Unions (CTUs) and sectoral federations and associations have announced a one-day general strike on February 12 against the imposition of the labour codes and the trade deals.
(With inputs from PTI and ANI)