Protesting Farmers Enter Delhi For ‘Mahapanchayat’

New Delhi: After camping at Delhi’s borders for a month, agitating farmers marched into Delhi on Thursday to press for their demands including a legal guarantee for a safety net on the MSP pricing of all crops.

The Delhi Police has permitted the farmers to hold a ‘Kisan Mazdoor Mahapanchayat’ at Delhi’s Ramlila Ground on Thursday. But the gathering will not exceed a congregation of 5000 protestors. Added to it, no tractor-trolleys are allowed to enter the venue.

The gathering, scheduled from 11 am to 2 pm, aims to “intensify the fight against government’s policies”, focusing on issues like MSP and implementing the Swaminathan Commission’s recommendations.

The mahapanchayat will be led by Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), the umbrella body of farmers’ organisations that had also spearheaded the 2020-21 farmers’ protest against the three central agri laws.

The farmers from Punjab, arrived at the Delhi borders on February 13, seeking to conduct a peaceful demonstration at the Ramlila Maidan. They were stopped by the cops at the Punjab-Haryana border.

Besides a legal guarantee for the MSP, their other demands include a farm loan waiver and the implementation of the Swaminathan Committee recommendations.