Punjab: During the 5-hour meeting on unity, consensus could not be reached among the farmer organizations

Punjab: The three forums of farmer unions – Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM), Samyukt Kisan Morcha (non-political) and Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) – have refused to announce full unity among themselves, and said instead they are in the process of building a consensus on a common minimum programme. Representatives of the three forums comprising 66 farmer unions met here for nearly five hours today. It is learnt that the SKM leaders had come with their “demand letter” to forge unity. However, there was a difference of opinion between the leaders of KMM and SKM (non-political) over accepting it. Also, the old differences between the two sides, which had surfaced after the 2020-21 farmer protests, could not be fully resolved today. The forums have decided to call a final meeting soon to forge unity, sources said. The forums will deliberate on clearing all differences before the next meeting. Until then, the SKM will go ahead alone with its protest against the draft National Policy Framework on Agricultural Marketing on March 5.

It is learnt that initially the leaders of the three forums held a meeting for two hours, after which there were separate meetings of SKM (non-political) and KMM on one side and SKM on the other. Sources said both these groups discussed their issues for about 90 minutes before they again met together for an hour and a half. BKU (Ekta-Ugrahan) president Joginder Singh Ugrahan said all important farmers’ issues were discussed in today’s meeting to understand the real position and stand of all the forums. “Complete unity of all the forums may not be possible immediately, but we are looking at creating a common ground to raise issues on which we all agree. Differences between all the forums were discussed and noted. These will be discussed further in our internal meetings. This process will take some more time,” he said. SKM leader Harinder Singh Lakhowal said common ground for unity was likely to be found during the next meeting. “We will continue our protest in Chandigarh on March 5 against the draft policy even though the Punjab Assembly has already rejected it,” he said. Farmer leader Inderjit Singh Kotbudha said the Assembly passing a resolution rejecting the draft policy was a victory for every farmer. SKM (non-political) leaders Kaka Singh Kotra and Abhimanyu Kohar expressed their concern over the deteriorating health of Jagjit Singh Dallewal, whose indefinite fast has been going on for 93 days.