Jagjit Singh Dallewal, a Farmer leader, on Monday reasserted that the ongoing farmers’ agitation will continue till the central government accepts the farmers’ core demand that the Minimum Support Price (MSP) for crops be guaranteed in law. Dallewal said the protest had not finished and ensured that farmers would continue with their pressure on the government through peaceful and democratic means.
Dallewal confirmed at a news conference after being discharged from a private hospital in Khanna that the farmer leaders will attend the talks with Centre scheduled for May 4. He said, “We are going to meet, but we will firmly present our demands. The fact we are now meeting is in part so the government does not take us away as an excuse not to deal with the demands,’ besides clarifying that their decision to engage in conversation was already to cover up the fact that the government might avoid the issue if they do not show up.” He added: “We are not going to allow them to say we didn’t show up.”
He was on an indefinite cold strike for 130 days, which he backed Sunday in Punjab’s Fatehgarh Sahib at a ‘Kisan Mahapanchayat’ event. Although they persisted in asking him to end the fast, Livingstone said he gave in to the “Sangat” (community) requests in order to ensure unity and other aspirations of the movement.
There will be an SKM and KMM meeting regarding the next course of action taken, according to joint platforms of various farmer unions like Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) and Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM). After the farmers were denied permission by both sides to march to Delhi, both have also been instrumental in organizing year-long protests at the Shambhu and Khanauri border points between Punjab and Haryana.
Security forces cleared the protest sites on March 19, but the agitation is alive in every sense. Dallewal said farmers will not give up until they meet their core demands, and hence show that the movement is resilient and yet relevant.
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