1.48 lakh farmers still facing cases registered during agitation against Centre's farm laws: SKM leader

Farmers protests

Cases against 1.48 lakh farmers who staged agitation against the Centre’s three new farm laws have still not been withdrawn contrary to the government’s promise, said Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) leader Shiv Kumar Sharma said on Monday.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced the repeal of the three farm laws on November 19, 2021, after a year-long farmers’ agitation on the borders of Delhi.

Popularly known as ”Kakkaji”, Sharma is a member of the coordination committee of the SKM and the president of the Rashtriya Kisan Mazdoor Mahasangh, a part of the outfit.

Talking to reporters here, Sharma said FIRs were lodged against 1.48 lakh farmers in different states during the farmers’ agitation against the new farm laws. ”The government had promised us after the end of the agitation that all these cases would be withdrawn within 30 days, but these cases are still going on. I myself and a large number of farmers are compelled to go to court for these cases," he said.

Sharma termed the government’s recently announced minimum support prices (MSPs) for Kharif crops as a ”sham” and said farmers were being trapped in a web of MSP data. He demanded that on the basis of the Swaminathan Commission report, the MSP on 23 commodities be increased and a law be brought in to procure them at that rate.

Sharma also hit out at the Madhya Pradesh government for not making public the report of the Jain Commission set up to probe the Mandsaur firing incident.

”This report has not come out yet. The government sets up a commission to investigate. But it seems that forming a commission means to wash up the matter," he said.

Six farmers were killed in Mandsaur on June 6, 2017, after the police opened fire at them during a farmers’ agitation. Six farmers were killed in Mandsaur on June 6, 2017, after the police opened fire at them during a farmers’ agitation.