Now, a ‘Dilli Chalo’ by SKM: farmers all set to hold mahapanchayat at Ramlila Maidan on March 14

Farmers from across the country and largely from northern India will be part of the “mahapanchayat” for which four members of national coordination committee of SKM had been conducting meetings with the Delhi police commissioner and MCD for seeking permission for holding the “mahapanchayat”.

“Both Delhi Police and MCD have issued an NOC for holding the ‘mahapanchayat’,” Darshan Pal, member, national coordination committee, SKM, told The Indian Express. Delhi Police will earmark a place for parking of buses that will be coming from various parts of the country for the “mahapanchayat”, said Darshan Pal.

“We had a meeting with Delhi police commissioner on March 8 in which there was a positive response. We also had a meeting with MCD authorities. The MCD authorities told us that if police give the NOC, they too will issue it. And that’s what happened. First, Delhi Police gave the nod, and subsequently, MCD also issued the NOC,” said Raminder Singh Patiala, member of SKM’s national coordination committee, while talking to The Indian Express.

This “mahapanchayat” is coming at a time when other farmer unions under the banner of Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM) and SKM (non-political) are sitting at Shambhu and Khanauri points on Punjab’s border with Haryana for the past 28 days after their ‘Dilli Chalo’ march on tractor-trolleys to press the Centre for similar demands was stopped by security forces. SKM is not part of the ‘Dilli Chalo’ march, although it has extended support to protesters at both protest sites.

However, for this “mahapanchayat”, SKM members will be going to Delhi on trains and buses, not on tractor-trolleys, said Darshan Pal.

Sukhdev Singh Kokrikalan, general secretary of BKU Ugrahan, said, “We will be going to Delhi by trains or buses only. People from Punjab will start on March 13 morning and will reach New Delhi by evening where they will camp at various gurdwaras. By 10 am on March 14, thousands of farmers and farm labourers will be at Ramlila Maidan as per the plan.”

Patiala said, “Mostly farmers of Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, MP, UP, and Uttarakhand will come. There will also be small delegations from West Bengal, Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and other states. In the last ‘mahapanchayat’ organised by SKM at Ramlila Maidan in March 2023, there were about 20,000 farmers from northern states.” Patiala claimed that “more than 25,000 farmers will come from Punjab alone”.

Manjit Singh Dhaner, president of BKU Dakaunda (Dhaner), said that village-level meetings are going on in Punjab, Haryana and other states regarding SKM’s upcoming ‘Dilli Chalo’ programme. BKU Ugrahan conducted a meeting of its office-bearers in Barnala on Monday, while 37 farmer unions of SKM Punjab held a similar meeting in Ludhiana.

“Our volunteers will be there to maintain discipline and they will be wearing badges and holding flags of kisan unions,” said Patiala. “On March 13, farmers will be staying in Delhi’s Gurdwara Sri Rakab Ganj Sahib, Gurdwara Sis Ganj Sahib and other shrines. On March 14, most of them will march on foot towards Ramlila Maidan without disturbing the traffic. These gurdwaras are about 5 km from Ramlila Maidan,” Patiala added.

SKM’s national coordination committee members Hannan Mollah and Avik Saha – both from West Bengal; Yudhvir Singh from UP; and Prem Singh Gehlot from Haryana are coordinating with Delhi Police for the convention’s other arrangements, while Balbir Singh Rajewal and a few other Punjab farmer leaders are coordinating with gurdwaras for overnight stay arrangements of thousands of farmers in Delhi. Rajewal is president of BKU Rajewal and a member of SKM national coordination committee.