Gurnam Charuni's BKU Returns to SKM Ahead of Massive Mahapanchayat in Delhi on March 14

New Delhi: In a major development ahead of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha’s (SKM) call for a massive Mahapanchayat in Delhi’s Ramlila Ground on March 14, Gurnam Singh Singh Charuni’s BKU (Bharatiya Kisan Union) announced it return to the farmers’ collective. The call for the mahapanchayat has also been backed by most central trade unions, barring BMS, which is affiliated to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh,

Charuni announced his return to SKM’s fold after a meeting with top farmer leader Balbir Singh Rajewal, according to a report in The Tribune.

The BKU (Charuni) had parted ways from the farmers’ collective to fight elections. SKM is an all-India farmers’ collective that spearheaded the year-long farmers’ movement on the borders of Delhi against the three farm laws, which the Narendra Modi government was forced to withdraw.

Making the announcement in Haryana’s Kurukshetra on Tuesday, Rajewal was quoted by The Tribune as saying: “In a process to unite farmer leaders and unions, the SKM has assigned me the duty to meet Gurnam Singh and bring him back to the morcha. For the future of farmers and the kind of unity we need, he (Gurnam) has given his consent. His union will participate in the mahapanchayat to be held in Delhi. He will get all due respect in the morcha.”

 Charuni, who announced full participation of his organisation in the Delhi Mahapanchayat said: “Rajewal is like a big brother to us. We are grateful that he came with the proposal to work together for the future of farmers. It has been decided that we will work together and fight the next agitation unitedly.”

Read Also: SKM Calls for Massive Mahapanchayat at Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan on March 14

The farmers are uniting once again to demand legal guarantee for MSP for 23 crops, which the Modi government has assured during the earlier farmers movement. The other demands include implementation of the Swaminathan Commission formula, one-time debt-waiver, roll-back of the Electricity Amendment Bill, withdrawal of cases against farmers. The farmers are also angry with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for giving a Lok Sabha ticket to Ajay Mishra Teni from Lakhimpur Kheri, where his son is the key accused in mowing down four farmers to death with his SUV during the farmer’s agitation. One journalist also died in the incident.

According to The Tribune report, Charuni also said that he had decided to rejoin SKM “as part of our efforts to form a joint committee to lead the ongoing farmers’ agitation, we held meetings with leaders of the SKM, SKM (Non-political) and Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM). Although there has been no positive response from the SKM (Non-political) and KMM, the SKM has come forward to fight unitedly for the pending demands of farmers.”

Recall that farmers from Punjab, Haryana and some other states, led by SKM-NP and KMM have been protesting peacefully since February 13 on Punjab-Haryana border. In the ‘Delhi Chalo’ march on tractors, the farmers had to face repression in the form of tear gassing via drones, rubber pellet firing, iron nails and concrete barriers. A young farmer, Shubkaran Singh, 19, from Bhatinda, was also killed during the protest, allegedly due to bullet injuries during firing by the Haryana Police.