SKM leaders meet MPs of different parties, urge them to raise their demands in Parliament

New Delhi: Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) leaders met several Parliament members on Wednesday and urged them to raise the demands of farmer outfits in Parliament including Minimum Support Price on "C2 plus 50 per cent formula" with procurement for all crops and farm loan waiver.

The SKM, which spearheaded the 2020-21 farmers' stir at Delhi borders against three central agri laws, had announced last week that it would restart its agitation that was suspended in December 2021.

The handing over of charters of their demands to MPs was the first in the string of protests planned for the coming days, it said.

The SKM said its different delegations met around 20 MPs including Union Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, Trivendra Singh Rawat (Haridwar), Bharat Singh Kushwah (Gwalior) and Sathish Gautam (Aligarh) from the BJP.

They also met Congress MPs including Satpal Brahmachari (Sonipat), Rakesh Rathore (Sitapur) and Rajya Sabha member Ashok Singh, several Samajwadi Party MPs like Harendra Malik (Muzaffarnagar) and Afzal Ansari (Ghazipur); AAP MP from Hoshiarpur Raj Kumar Chabbewal, DMK's Thoothukkudi MP K Kanomozhi, and independent MP from Sangli Vishal Patil.

On Tuesday, SKM leaders had met Allahabad MP Ujjwal Raman Singh (Congress) and Kaushambi MP Pushpendra Saroj (SP).

The demands of the farmers include ensuring legally guaranteed MSP based on the C2+50 per cent formula with assured procurement for all crops. This entails adding a profit margin of 50 per cent on the cost of production to calculate MSP.

The SKM is also against privatisation of the power sector and prepaid smart meters. It has demanded compensation to families of farmers who died during their stir, withdrawal of all the cases related to the farmers' agitation and loan waiver.

On August 9, the SKM will observe "Corporates Quit India Day" by holding demonstrations across the country in support of its charter of demands, the organisation said.

The SKM has demanded that India must come out of WTO and multinational corporations should not be allowed in agriculture.