The Centre and the Samyukt Kisan Morcha is likely to restart the process of dialogue soon. With the SKM saying that they want the Centre to consider the pending demands such as a legalised MSP and withdrawing the draft amendments to Electricity Act before ending the agitations, the Centre is learnt to have reached out informally to some members in the steering committee of the SKM, offering talks. A general body of the SKM held here on Sunday decided to respond positively and sent a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi asking him to resume dialogues.

A steering committee member told BusinessLine after the meeting that the unfinished agenda will be taken up in the meetings. “We were told that Cabinet Ministers Piyush Goyal and Narendra Singh Tomar will talk to us on the pending issues,” the farmers’ leader said. He added that another meeting of the general body scheduled on November 27 will take a final decision on the future course of agitations.

SKM’s demands

In its letter, the SKM reminded the Prime Minister about six pending demands. They said in the letter that the farmers have no desire to continue the protests for long and want to go back to their families to resume farming, but the pending demands should be addressed by the Centre. The demands are a law assuring an MSP which is 50 per cent over the cost of production (C2+50 per cent), withdrawal of the draft amendments to Electricity Act, deleting the penal provisions against farmers for stubble burning as provisioned in the Delhi-NCR Air Quality Commission Bill, quashing FIRs and chargesheets against farmers for participating in the protests, expelling Minister of State for Home Affairs Ajay Mishra from the council of ministers for his alleged involvement in Lakhimpur Kheri incident and compensation for farmers who lost lives during the protests.

The SKM general body, in its meeting on Sunday, congratulated all farmers and workers of India for their “historic victory” after an unprecedented one year long struggle. “The meeting decided to send an open letter to the Prime Minister of India, raising the pending demands of the farmers' movement, including central legislation to guarantee a remunerative MSP. SKM also decided to continue with all the announced programmes as per plan. The next meeting will take place on November 27 to review developments if any,” a statement by SKM said.

Schedule of activities

SKM appealed all citizens to take part in Lucknow Kisan Mahapanchayat on Monday, Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Diwas on November 24, massive mobilisation along the Delhi borders on November 26, the first anniversary day of the protests and Sansad Chalo on November 29. “This victory is not a question of someone's pride or ego, but a matter of lives and livelihoods of millions of ignored and marginalised Indians,” the statement said.

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