Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) called for a Kisan Mahapanchayat to protest against the Centre’s three farm laws on Sunday in Muzaffarnagar. Thousands of farmers from Uttar Pradesh and neighbouring states showed up in strength.
“India is for sale, this is the government’s policy,” said Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) national spokesperson Rakesh Tikait while addressing the mahapanchayat. “We have to stop the country from getting sold. Farmers should be saved, the country should be saved; business, employees and youth should be saved – this is the aim of the rally.”
Rakesh Tikait declared that the farmers’ movement, which began over nine months ago, will not end until the three contentious laws are rolled back by the government. He avowed that more such mahapanchayat meetings will be held across the country in the coming days.
“Our struggle has been going on for nine months but the government has stopped engaging in dialogue. They did not observe even a minute’s silence for the hundreds of farmers who died while sitting in protest on the outskirts of Delhi. But we will not end the movement at any cost,” the farmer leader said.
BKU media in-charge Dharmendra Malik said farmers belonging to 300 organisations spread across different states like Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Maharashtra, Karnataka, among others, have gathered for the event.
As farmers turned up in huge numbers to attend the mahapanchayat, city roads and flyovers in Muzaffarnagar got jam-packed .
The farmers, including women carrying flags of different organisations and wearing different coloured caps, were seen arriving at the venue in buses, cars and tractors.
