Farmers stick to core demands; say no plans to abandon march to Parliament on Budget day

Disassociating themselves from Tuesday's violence, farmers' unions have expressed their determination that they will continue with their protests themselves. The unions said there are no plans to abandon the march to Parliament on Budget Day.

Union leaders have not given up their core demands--repeal of laws and legal guarantee to minimum support price (MSP). The farm unions, which have received favourable notice so far, are being questioned over the manner in which their rally spun out of control and resulted in chaos in Delhi on Republic Day.

The protesters are no more restricted to just Punjab, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh. The unions said they had mobilised some organisations in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, and West Bengal to intensify the agitations. Apart from these states,  Assam and Manipur also held a rally on Tuesday.

Kavitha Kuruganti of Mahila Adhikar Manch, who represented farmers in talks with the government, condemned the violence. She said the farmers' protests are not weakened yet, but it is those elements, who broke the norms and separated themselves from the collective spirits of farmers, have isolated themselves.

Another farmer P Krishna Prasad pf All India Kisan Sabha and Avik Saha of Jai Kisan Andolan stated that Tuesday's incident has not weakened the movement. He said farmers' protest has now become a mass movement and will eventually spread pan-India. "Masses are now leading the struggle. They are not being led by farmers' unions anymore," Prasad told Times of India.

On asking about whether violence would not defeat the purpose, Saha said, "Only one group short-circuited it and created panic by its unacceptable act, which we all condemned. We will review and take a collective decision." He added: "We are bound by the common mission and we are determined to achieve it through further intensifying the protests across the  country".

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