Farmers should get the full price of their crops. All parties here say Swaminathan Commission report should be implemented.
NEW DELHI: Thousands of farmers from across India marched to Parliament from Ramlila Maidan, demanding an end to the agrarian crisis in the country as well as a special sitting to discuss the situation.
The demands include debt relief and an increase in the Minimum Support Price for their produce. The farmers are also demanding a special joint three-week long Parliamentary session on the agrarian crisis.
The protests began on Thursday and today, on the second day, they will continue the ‘Kisan Mukti March’ from Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan to Parliament Street.
The march was organised under the banner of the All-India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee (AIKSCC), a platform of 200 farmers’ groups.
Women farmers are also participating in the march to protest for their crops amid mounting bank loans, crop failure, and large dependent families.
The All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee (AIKSCC) claimed that the rally is “one of the largest congregations of farmers” in Delhi.
At a protest meet in Jantar Mantar, Opposition leaders, including Congress president Rahul Gandhi, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, and CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury, joined hands to criticise what they called the anti-farmer policies of the Union government.
Congress president Rahul Gandhi voiced the concerns of the agitating farmers and said, “If loans of industrialists can be waived off, then the debt of farmers must also be waived off.
Farmers from different parts of the country, including Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh took part in the rally.