Farmers Protest Against Shivraj Singh Chouhan's Appointment As Agriculture Minister

The Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) on Wednesday protested against the NDA government's decision to allocate the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare to Shivraj Singh Chouhan and held him responsible for the killing of six farmers in Madhya Pradesh's Mandsaur in June 2017. In a statement issued on Wednesday, the SKM said the farmers were "murdered" while participating in the massive struggle for MSP at the C2 plus 50 per cent formula given by the Swaminathan Commission, comprehensive loan waiver and against the growing trend of farmers' suicide.

The SKM also announced that a meeting of its general body will be held in Delhi on July 10 which will be attended by the leaders of the constituent farmer organisations from all over India.

"The decision symbolizes arrogance and insensitivity exhibited by the former regimes of 2014 and 2019 with an absolute majority to the BJP. It has aroused wrath among the farmers and the rural people across the country," the SKM said.

Six farmers were killed in June 2017 in Madhya Pradesh's Mandsaur after a group of farmers was fired at by the policemen and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) jawans. The SKM, which led the protests against the now scrapped farm laws, said the NDA government did not take any decision to address the acute agrarian crisis and the farmers' suicide in the first Cabinet meeting or on the long pending demands on MSP, among other things.

"The hype being created in the name of releasing Rs 20,000 crore of arrear in the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi, which is an existing scheme with grossly inadequate sum of average Rs 500 per month per farmers' household will not satisfy farmers since it camouflage the unwillingness of the state to provide remunerative MSP and the policies of corporate takeover of agricultural sector," the SKM said.

"There is no illusion among the farmers of a change in the corporate policies on agriculture. Farmers have to prepare for another stint of vibrant and massive struggles by joining hands with workers, small traders and petty producers and extending across India," they said, adding the SKM is determined to build greater unity of the people and put pressure on the NDA government to replace its "corporate driven policies" with farmer and worker centric policies for the development of people.

The SKM said their further course of action will be decided at the July 10 meeting. Commenting on the incident of actor and BJP MP Kangana Ranaut being slapped by a CISF personnel, they said, "SKM while not justifying slapping of Kangana Ranaut MP by a women security personal flays her arrogant and malicious utterances against the historic farmers' struggle."

A delegation of the SKM will also visit the families of Lakhimpur Kheri martyrs on June 13 and will ensure continuation of legal assistance to the farmers, who were wrongly implicated in the case by the BJP led state government after the incident.