SKM, BKU (Ugrahan) decline AAP govt’s dialogue offer: ‘No congenial atmosphere’

While Joginder Singh Ugrahan, the chief of BKU (Ugrahan) announced his decision to not attend the meeting in the morning, SKM leaders held a meeting in Chandigarh and later announced their decision to boycott it. Khuddian said that he had received a message that the farmer leaders would not be attending the meeting. “They have told us that they are not coming. We will send them an invite again.

We will take them into confidence again. Dialogue should not end. I am a sewadar of the farmers. I will keep inviting them. All issues will be sorted via dialogue.”

SKM leader Harinder Singh Lakhowal, meanwhile, said that the environment for the meeting was not congenial.

“For holding a meeting, you need to have a congenial atmosphere. How can we hold a meeting with the government when our brethren, our elderly and woman members are under arrest. Our tractors and trolleys have been dumped in the agriculture fields. We have told the government that we are boycotting the meeting to protest against the oppression and excesses on farming community,” said Lakhowal.

The meeting was attended by farmer leaders Darshan Pal, Harmit Singh Kadian, Raminder Singh Patiala, Ruldu Singh Mansa and Jangveer Singh Chauhan. He said the SKM’s proposed march to the Vidhan Sabha on March 26 has been called off. Instead, on March 28, SKM will stage protests outside all district headquarters from 11 am to 3 pm to oppose the action taken against protesting farmers.

Asked id SKM leaders were fearing arrest, Lakhowal said, “We are not scared. We are boycotting the meeting to give them a message that they cannot gets leaders of an outfit arrested after calling them for a meeting. We are not running away from the meeting. We will talk only when the environment is peaceful”. The BKU (Ugrahan) said while it favours dialogues to resolve any issue, “the question arises whether having the meeting under these circumstances (detention of farmers) is right”.

“What is the guarantee that those invited for the talks will not be arrested later,” Ugrahan asked in a video message.

Ugrahan also said that they would not attend the meeting unless Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann would be a part of it. “CM had walked out of the last meeting midway. Now, he has to come back for the meeting and start from where he had left,” said Ugrahan. He added, “It does not make any sense to hold a meeting when the trolleys and tractors have been dumped in the fields. We do not know how many farmers have been arrested yet. CM had said it is our democratic right to protest. The government should give us space. We will go and sit there. The government should first release all those farmers leaders who have been arrested,” said Ugrahan.

The SKM and the BKU (Ugrahan) were not part of the protests at the Shambhu and Khanauri that was led by SKM (Non-Political) and the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM) since February last year before the Punjab Police cleared the two sites on Wednesday.

The SKM, which had led the 2020 agitation against the now-repealed three farm laws, is demanding implementation of the state’s agricultural policy, purchase of six crops at MSP by the state government, a legal framework for debt relief after coordinating with the Centre, ownership rights of land tillers and payment of sugarcane arrears.

It is also pressing to stop the “forcible” acquisition of land for the Bharatmala projects, jobs, compensation for kin of farmers who lost lives during the farmers’ stir in 2020-21, revoke the policy of installing prepaid electricity meters, resolve the issue of stray animals and curbing black marketing of fertilisers and spurious seeds.