Congress, TMC, 10 Other Opposition Parties Support Farmers' Countrywide Protest Call On May 26

Congress, Shiv Sena, TMC and nine other opposition parties have extended their support to the protest call made by the Samyukta Kisan Morcha to observe countrywide protest on May 26.

Farmer protest (Image: PTI)

New Delhi: Twelve major opposition parties on Sunday extended their support to the protest call made by the Samyukta Kisan Morcha to observe countrywide protest on May 26 to mark six months of the farmers protest at borders of the national capital. 

The twelve politicians from the major opposition parties who have signed the joint statement include: Sonia Gandhi (Congress), H D Deve Gowda (JD-S), Sharad Pawar (NCP), Mamata Banerjee (TMC), Uddhav Thackeray (SS), M K Stalin (DMK), Hemant Soren (JMM), Farooq Abdullah (JKPA), Akhilesh Yadav (SP), Tejaswi Yadav (RJD), D Raja (CPI) and Sitaram Yechury (CPI-M).

The joint statement said, "On May 12, we had jointly written to Prime Minister Modi saying the following: Repeal farm laws to protect lakhs of our annadatas becoming victims of the pandemic so that they can continue to produce food to feed the Indian people. We demand the immediate repeal of the farm laws and the legal entitlement to the Minimum Support Price (MSP) of C2+50 per cent as recommended by the Swaminathan Commission." 

On Friday, the umbrella body for the 40 farmers' unions Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) wrote a letter to the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi urging to resume talking about the three farm laws. 

The statement issued by the Samyukta Kisan Morcha, said, "Today, the Samyukta Kisan Morcha has written a letter to the Prime Minister, asking for the resumption of talks with farmers. This letter touches upon several aspects of the farmers' movement, and the ignorant attitude of the government".

Since November 2020, thousands of farmers mostly from Punjab, Haryana and Western Uttar Pradesh, have been camping at three Delhi border points, demanding the three farm laws be repealed. 

So far, 11 rounds of talks between 40 farm leaders and the government have failed to break the deadlock over the three laws. The last round was on January 22nd. There has been no talks between the two sides since January 26th when the farmers' tractor rally in the national capital turned violent.