Twelve opposition parties on Sunday declared support to the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) which has given a nationwide protest call on May 26 to mark six months of their agitation against the three farm laws.
The opposition leaders, including Congress President Sonia Gandhi and four chief ministers Mamata Banerjee, Uddhav Thackeray, Hemant Soren and M K Stalin, also asked the Modi government to resume talks with the agitating farmers for repeal of the farm laws and guaranteeing minimum support price for farm produce.
“We demand the immediate repeal of the farm laws and the legal entitlement to the Minimum Support Price (MSP) of C2+50% as recommended by the Swaminathan Commission. The Central Government must stop being obdurate and immediately resume talks with the SKM on these lines,” the joint statement issued by the opposition leaders said.
Farmers from various parts of the country are protesting at Delhi borders against the three farm laws brought by the Centre, contending that it would only benefit big businessmen.
Besides Gandhi and four chief ministers, signatories to the letter are former prime minister H D Devegowda (JDS), NCP chief Sharad Pawar, former chief ministers Farooq Abdullah (JKPA) and Akhilesh Yadav (SP), Tejashwi Yadav (RJD), D Raja (CPI) and Sitaram Yechury (CPI-M).
Farmers, who had returned to their villages for the harvesting season, have started returning to the protest sites at Singhu and Tikri borders with Haryana, Ghazipur border with Uttar Pradesh, ignoring calls for ending the protests in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.