NEW DELHI: Hours after receiving a ‘signed’ letter from the Centre accepting most of their demands, farmer Unions on Thursday ended their year-long agitation and decided to leave the sites they had occupied on national highways on Delhi borders with tents at Singhu, a key protest venue, being wound up and similar action expected at other places including several toll plazas in Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan.
Putting off celebrations in deference to the last rites of CDS Rawat and other personnel who died in the chopper crash, the Unions will take out a victory procession only on Saturday. All toll plazas are to be cleared by December 15 even as Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) said the farmers are “suspending” the agitation that began 378 days ago and would meet on January 15 to assess the government’s actions on their demands.
“We’ll review its progress every month and decide our course of action accordingly. If government does not fulfil its promises, we could resume our agitation," said SKM leader Gurnam Singh Charuni of BKU-Haryana while addressing a joint press conference with other leaders, including Darshan Pal, Yogendra Yadav, Hannan Mollah and Shivkumar Sharma 'Kakkaji'. The decision raises hopes the blocks that severely inconvenienced entry and exit on Delhi borders will be gone soon though the state of the highways will have to be inspected by NHAI and state authorities before traffic is allowed.
As the farmer leaders formally called off their protest, many farmers started to dismantle their tents and bringing down iron structures erected at Singhu border. Many said they are being approached by scrap dealers and told TOI they will celebrate on December 11 instead of Friday as a tribute to CDS Rawat and others. The scenario at Singhu border was of joy and happiness. Big speakers and woofers on tractors played Punjabi numbers louder than usual while smaller tents were already taken down.
However, protestors at UP Gate (Ghazipur border) declared they will be the last ones to leave because they want to "see off" farmers, mainly from Punjab, camped at Singhu and Tikri, to show their gratitude. BKU, which has been leading the agitation here, said the idea was proposed by its leader Rakesh Tikait.
BKU spokesperson Dharmendra Malik said, "Rakesh Tikait wants that we should see off farmers from Punjab, who are mostly camping at Singhu and Tikri borders and have a long distance to travel, first...Tikait has said he will be the last one to leave as he wants to see off the last farmer as a gesture of appreciation for the unflinching support they extended to the agitation."
There weren’t many protesters at UP Gate but among the 100 or so in the camps were some of the most steadfast agitators. Rajasthan farmers will vacate Alwar's Shahjahanpur border on Friday paving the way for reopening of Jaipur-Delhi national highway after almost a year. "After a general meeting on Friday morning, the ‘morcha’ will be removed from Shahjahanpur-Kheda border...a public awareness campaign will be launched in villages along with a thanks-giving drive," the SKM said.
In a statement, SKM said the battle to secure minimum support price (MSP) as a legal entitlement for all farmers will continue even as agriculture secretary Sanjay Agarwal's letter to the forum noted that a committee proposed by the centre will have a mandate to see how to "ensure" MSP is available to farmers, stopping short an assurance on legal backing. The Unions are likely to raise it in the state polls coming up, particularly in UP and Punjab.
SKM's decision to wind up the current agitation comes after Agrawal wrote to them on Thursday morning, formally accepting points which were stated informally in a revised draft proposal a day before. Since the farmer Unions agreed to the draft on Wednesday, the agriculture secretary replicated those points in his formal note to the Morcha while requesting its leaders to end the agitation.
The government's written promises include 'unconditional' withdrawal of all cases against farmers and their supporters in states and UTs including Delhi, compensation to kin of all farmers who died during the year-long protests, mandating the proposed committee on MSP to ensure support price for crops, consulting stakeholders, including SKM, before introduction of the Electricity Amendment Bill in Parliament and decriminalisation of stubble-burning.
During the back channel efforts by the home ministry to end the protests in the wake of the repeal of three farm laws, Unions were learnt to have adopted an accommodative approach when the government side accepted their most of the demands and explained to them how the issue of 'environment compensation' (penalty) on stubble-burning episodes and the Lakhimpur Kheri incident cases were being directly monitored by the Supreme Court and therefore the Centre could not do anything on these matters.
Dismissal and arrest of junior home minister Ajay Mishra in the Lakhimpur Kheri incident case was one of the six demands of SKM which it had flagged in its email to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 21. Besides, the farmer Unions also wanted the 'environmental compensation' clause (Section 15) to be removed from the law on Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) in Delhi-NCR and adjoining areas.
"Emergence of SKM as a big united force at national level is also one of the biggest achievements of this year-long agitation. The Morcha remained united despite facing many difficulties throughout the year. This struggle also shows how a peaceful protest can force an elected government to listen to the people in a democracy. Farmers together have emerged as a big force now," said P Krishnaprasad of the All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) - one of the key constituents of the SKM.
Yogendra Yadav too flagged that how the farmers regained their lost dignity and emerged as a strong political force who can set national agenda for common people. "It's also a beautiful coincidence that the 'Kisan Morcha' began on November 26, the day Constituent Assembly concluded its work. And it concluded on December 9, the day Constituent Assembly began its deliberations. Farmers must defend this constitutional republic," he said.
(With inputs from Abhijay Jha from Ghaziabad and our Jaipur bureau)
