Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh
Three days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced repealing of the three contentious farm laws, thousands of farmers gathered in Lucknow yesterday, on November 22, to underline that the year-long agitation was not merely about the three laws.
The farmers have demanded that Minimum Support Price (MSP) should be a legal entitlement. Other demands by farmers included that legal cases filed against the farmers during the agitation be withdrawn; punitive measures be taken against Ajay Mishra Teni, minister of state for Home Affairs, who the farmers allege was responsible for the mowing down of farmers in Lakhimpur Kheri in Uttar Pradesh last month on October 3, and to build a memorial for the farmers who lost their lives during the course of the farmers’ stir.
It is estimated that more than 700 farmers have died during the agitation against the contentious farm laws in the past one year.
Farmer leaders blame the government for the deaths, and hence a demand for compensation to the families. “The government has killed the farmers. They have to be accountable for it. Had they taken these laws back earlier, this martyrdom would have not resulted. The government will be held accountable for these deaths,” Rakesh Tikait, farmer leader and the national spokesperson of Bhartiya Kisan Union told Gaon Connection.
Apart from Tikait, the Kisan Mahapanchayat was joined by thousands of farmers from Punjab, Haryana, and poll bound Uttar Pradesh, farmer leader Darshan Pal and Indian Politician Yogendra Yadav. The mahapanchayat was organised by Samyukta Kisan Morcha, an umbrella body of 40 farmer unions.
When Gaon Connection went to report the mahapanchayat at Lucknow’s Ecogarden park, a group of women were found rolling rotis (Indian flat bread) to keep the supply of food steady at the protest site.
Men and women and kids were ensuring the farmer guests were not hungry as they voiced their demands. Watch Kisan Mahapanchayat organised in the poll bound Uttar Pradesh in pictures.
