Sack Ajay Mishra, SKM urges President; farmers will re-launch protests if assurances not fulfilled, it says

The Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) has written a letter to President Ramnath Kovind pressing for the suspension of Union Minister Ajay Mishra Teni from Modi’s cabinet.

Activists and farmers’ leaders associated with SKM – an umbrella body of over 40 farmers’ organizations – on Monday also took out rallies in various parts of the country, staged dharnas and handed over memoranda to district administrations.

Demanding justice for the victims of Lakhimpur Kheri where farmers were mowed down allegedly by Ajay Mishra Teni’s son Ashish, SKM said that the farmers of the country have faced “continuous betrayal”.

“In the Lakhimpur Kheri murder case, despite SIT’s report that a conspiracy had transpired, Ajay Mishra Teni, one of the accused in the case, remains in the Union Cabinet against every constitutional and political decorum…we request you to remind the Union Government of its written promises and get them fulfilled at the earliest and ensure justice in Lakhimpur Kheri incident,” said the farmers’ body.

Saying that despite SKM lifting the morcha from Delhi, the Union government has not only gone back on its promises but is also sprinkling salt on the wounds of the farmers, SKM said.

“SKM has decided to observe MSP Legal Guarantee Week from April 11th to 17th. If the government does not fulfill its assurance by then, the farmers will be left with no other option but to resume the agitation,” it announced.

Reiterating that “the government has neither announced the formation of the committee on MSP nor has given any information about the nature of the committee”, SKM added, “The government promised that the cases filed against the farmers during the movement would be withdrawn with immediate effect. So far, only the Haryana government has done some paperwork and issued some orders to withdraw the case. But in Haryana too, this work is incomplete, and farmers are still getting summons.”

“Delhi Police had announced a few days ago that it would withdraw 17 out of 54 cases, but till now there is no information about which ones will be withdrawn, nor is there any explanation why the rest of the cases will not be withdrawn,” said the SKM.

The SKM has also raised the issue of cases filed by the Railways against “Rail Roko” campaigns carried out across the country by farmers.

“No action has been taken by the Government of Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh on the assurance of withdrawing the cases registered during the agitation,” added the SKM.