Ahead of UP Polls, SKM Issues Appeal: 'BJP Needs to be Punished in Elections'

New Delhi: Stressing that the Centre is yet to implement any of the promises made to the farmers when they withdrew the agitations December last year, the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) issued an appeal to voters in the poll-bound states on Thursday under its campaign against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government.

The campaign, namely, 'Mission Uttar Pradesh', aims to urge the voters not to vote for the "anti-farmer" BJP in the upcoming assembly elections. First announced in July last year during the farmers' protest against the three central farm legislations, the campaign was relaunched on Thursday, days after farmers across the nation hit the streets to observe what they called a "Day of Betrayal".

Farmers' organisations will campaign in every block, village, and district in the upcoming days to urge the voters to "punish and defeat" the BJP, said SKM, the umbrella organisation that spearheaded the farmers' agitation, in a press conference on Thursday.

Held at New Delhi's Press Club of India, the conference was attended by prominent SKM leaders, including Dr Darshan Pal, Hannan Mollah, Rakesh Tikait, Yogendra Yadav, Joginder Singh Ugrahan, Shiv Kumar Kakka ji, and Jagjit Singh Dallewal.

On Thursday, SKM leaders said that they will campaign against BJP across every poll-bound State in the coming days. Image clicked by Ronak Chhabra

Assembly elections are scheduled to begin later this month in five Indian states, including Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Goa, and Manipur, with voting for the high-stakes UP elections to be held in seven phases, starting from its western part on February 10. Notably, this region of the politically crucial state, along with Punjab, is among those from where farmers joined the anti-farm laws agitation in large numbers.

The SKM is issuing a handbill carrying an appeal to the voters. Starting Thursday, the bill would be distributed across the poll-bound states in the coming days, Hannan Mollah, general secretary of All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) said, while addressing the media. He added that it would be distributed in every block, village and district by members of as many as 57 constituent organisations of the SKM.

A copy of the handbill, given to the media, has the following appeal as its title: "Iss chunav mein kisan virodhi BJP ko saja den (Punish anti-farmer BJP in this election)". It has been issued by the SKM coordination committee under the signature, "Kisan andolan ka ek sipahi." The appeal touches upon issues ranging from over 700 deaths of farmers during the agitation to the Lakhimpur Kheri incident, along with local concerns of the UP farmers.

"The BJP government does not understand the language of truth and lies, does not understand the difference between good and bad, does not know the difference between constitutional or unconstitutional. This party understands only one language - of vote, seat, [and] power," read the appeal in Hindi.

Reiterating that the Centre continues to renege on the promises made to the protesting farmers in December last year, SKM, in its appeal, added: "To open the ears of this anti-farmer BJP government, it needs to be punished in the elections. I don't need to tell you how to punish. You yourself are smart. Only a farmer can understand the pain of a farmer, I am sure you will remember this letter of mine while casting your vote."

Rakesh Tikait of Bharatiya Kisan Union (Uttar Pradesh) on Thursday said that the voters in UP were demanding an answer from the Yogi Adityanath-led BJP government in the state.

"Today, we are releasing a set of questions. We want the people of Uttar Pradesh to ask these questions to every leader when they come to ask for votes," he said.

Tikait added that the SKM would also hold a "big meeting," a date for which will be decided later, to press for the farmers' demands ahead of the UP Assembly elections. He also appealed to the people of UP and Uttarakhand to raise issues of the youth and workers on social media platforms.

Yogendra Yadav of Jan Kisan Andolan said that, under the 'Mission UP' campaign, the national leaders of the SKM would hold similar press conferences and interact with people at nine places in Uttar Pradesh in the coming weeks. According to him, these would be Meerut, Moradabad, Lucknow, Kanpur, Jhansi, Allahabad, Siddharthnagar, Banaras, and Gorakhpur.

"We are appealing to the voters [to not vote for BJP] because the Centre has reneged on the written promises given to the farmers. Ajay Mishra Teni, the main conspirator in the Lakhimpur Kheri massacre case, continues to remain in the Union Council of Ministers," Yadav said, adding that the SKM was also protesting against the anti-farmer policies of the BJP-led UP government.

He stressed that the SKM, through its campaign, was not asking for votes for any political party. He suggested that it would stick to its message of defeating and punishing the BJP, just as witnessed earlier in the run-up to the Assembly elections in West Bengal last year.

On being asked about the assembly polls in Punjab, where SKM constituents are contesting elections under two political factions, namely, Sanyukt Sangharsh Party (SSP) and Sanyukt Samaj Morcha (SSM), Joginder Singh Ugrahan of BKU (Ugrahan) said that the SKM was not associated with them.

He, however, added, "The SKM has not broken ties with any union. We are only talking about the ties with the political fronts."

After deciding to repeal the contentious farm legislations, the Narendra Modi-led central government had provided written assurance to the SKM over the latter's pending demands. It promised, among others, that it would form a committee on minimum support prices (MSP) and withdraw cases against farmers in various states.

In a meeting held last month on January 15, the farmers' leadership met in the national capital and decided to give two weeks to the Centre to fulfil the promises. They observed a "Day of Betrayal" on January 31, when thousands of farmers took to the streets and submitted a memorandum to the President of India.

On Thursday, Darshan Pal of Krantikari Kisan Union said that with assurances from the Centre yet to be implemented, the farmers "will intensify their struggle" to press for the same. The SKM, earlier on January 31, had threatened to "resume" their agitation again.