The Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) organised a farmers’ mahapanchayat in Muzzafarnagar on Sunday, September 5, in protest against the farm laws passed by the Union Government in a previous parliamentary session. Thousands of farmers from Uttar Pradesh and neighbouring states attended the event organised by SKM at the Government Inter College ground in Muzaffarnagar.
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. The marching farmers raised slogans demanding repeal of the Centre’s three farm laws.
“These meetings will be held across the country. We must stop the country from getting sold. If the farmers are saved, the country will be saved; this is the aim of the rally,” Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) national spokesperson Rakesh Tikait said during the event.
The event was also attended by activists Medha Patkar and Yogendra Yadav. Mahinder Singh, whose photo went viral after being lathi-charged in Karnal, was also seen at the event.
Samyukt Kisan Morcha – the umbrella body of 40 farmer unions protesting the Centre’s three farm laws – said the event would prove that the agitation had the support of “all castes, religions, states, classes, small traders and other sections of society”.
The official Twitter handle of the agitating farmers, Ekta Kisan Morcha, tweeted a picture of scores of farmers sitting at the ground, with a tweet reading: “The Centre tried to dismiss us by saying ‘only a few farmers are protesting’. They should now repeal the law’”.
“The mahapanchayat will make the Yogi-Modi governments realise the power of farmers, farm labourers and supporters of the farm movement. The Muzaffarnagar mahapanchayat will be the biggest ever in the last nine months,” the SKM had said in a statement. They further announced that the farmers will hold a mahapanchayat in Karnal on September 7 against the lathi charge on farmers. “We will also hold a meeting of farmers groups in Lucknow between September 9-10,” said SKM members. The farmers have also called for a Bharat Bandh on September 27.
