CHANDIGARH: Farmers in Punjab, organized in small groups, will begin a foot march towards Delhi on December 6, demanding a legal guarantee for the Minimum Support Price (MSP) for crops, along with other long-standing demands. The protest, led by farmer leaders, follows months of demonstrations, with farmers having been camped at Shambhu and Khanauri borders for 293 days.
Sarwan Singh Pandher, farmer leader and convener of the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM), announced that the first group of farmers, led by prominent leaders Satnam Singh Pannu, Surinder Singh Chautala, Surjit Singh Phul, and Baljinder Singh, will depart for Delhi on December 6. The group plans to march peacefully, walking daily from 9 am to 5 pm, while camping overnight along the way. Their route will take them through Ambala’s Jaggi city centre, the Mohra grain market, Khanpur Jattan, and Pipli in Haryana.
Pandher stated that further details, including the number of participants in the first group, would be disclosed closer to the march.
Guramneet Singh Mangat, another farmer leader, said that while farmers from Punjab march towards Delhi, farmer bodies in Kerala, Uttarakhand, and Tamil Nadu would also be organizing marches towards their respective state assemblies, amplifying the demand for a legal guarantee on MSP.
This march follows earlier failed attempts to march to Delhi on February 13 and February 21, which were blocked by security forces at the Punjab-Haryana border. Since February 13, farmers under the banners of Samyukta Kisan Morcha (non-political) and Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM) have been protesting at the Shambhu and Khanauri border points, demanding a resolution to their issues.
Pandher criticized the central government for halting talks with protesting farmers. "The government has not engaged in discussions with us since February 18. They stopped the talks and have ignored our demands for a legal guarantee on MSP," he said.
He also emphasized the farmers' rejection of contract farming, stating, "Contract farming is not acceptable to us. We demand a legal guarantee on MSP for our crops."
In February, a panel of three Union Ministers—Arjun Munda, Piyush Goyal, and Nityanand Rai—held talks with farmer representatives, offering to buy pulses, maize, and cotton at MSP for five years. However, the proposal was rejected by the farmers.
Meanwhile, Jagjit Singh Dallewal, chief of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), continues his fast unto death at the Khanauri border point, highlighting the urgency of the protest.
Apart from the legal guarantee on MSP, the farmers are also demanding a farm loan waiver, pensions for farmers and farm labourers, no hike in electricity tariffs, the withdrawal of police cases, justice for the victims of the 2021 Lakhimpur Kheri violence, reinstatement of the Land Acquisition Act, 2013, and compensation for the families of farmers who died during the 2020-21 agitation.
