The Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) appears to have resolved its organisational issues by taking back about 16 farmers’ organisations who formed the Sanyukt Samaj Morcha (SSM) ahead of the Punjab Assembly elections in January. A meeting of the SKM, held in Ghaziabad on Sunday, decided to expand the SKM’s ambit by making it a national platform of various farmers’ organisations. The meeting, chaired by All India Kisan Sabha leader Ashok Dhawale, also saw discussions on the two-page guidelines distributed to all constituents. The guidelines speak of SKM’s proposed organisational structure and will be adopted at its next meeting, after the discussions within various farmers’ associations.
About 200 delegates from 15 States participated in the meeting. The meeting also decided to expel the Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangh (KRRS), headed by Chandrasekhar Kodihalli, from the SKM. Mr. Kodihalli was earlier caught in a sting camera operation allegedly taking a bribe to settle a transport strike. SKM’s Karnataka chapter had probed the allegations and recommended that the KRRS be expelled from the SKM.
Though most of the Punjab-based farmer organisations are back in the SKM’s fold, senior farm leaders Balbir Singh Rajewal, who founded the SSM, and Gurnam Singh Chaduni, who formed a political party, are still being kept out of the SKM. Leaders of the SKM told The Hindu that they will be taken back only if they disbanded their political outfits. Mr. Rajewal unsuccessfully contested the Punjab Assembly elections. The meeting expressed confidence that the SKM’s doors will always be open to all farmers and farmers’ organisations of the country, and expressed hope that the farmers’ struggle against the Centre would become more intense and powerful.
