The Rashtriya Kisan Maha Sangh, the farmers’ coordination committee spearheading the agitation against farm laws in New Delhi, will orgainse a ‘mahapanchayat’ in Kerala on February 18, its south Indian coordinator P.T. John has said.
He told the media on Thursday that the event would be held at Ramankari in the Kuttanad region of Alappuzha district, where a protest had been going on for the past few weeks. Similar events would be held in other panchayats in the coming days. A meeting to be held in Thrissur on February 13 would chalk out the future plans, Mr. John said.
He said the committee had been holding talks with the Central trade unions about conducting a joint protest. Bank employees, railway staff and port workers had been invited to be part of the agitation. Mr. John said the farmers’ unions had expressed solidarity with the trade unions when they observed a strike on November 26 against the four labour codes brought in by the Centre.
The farmers’ leader said that various grama sabhas had been holding meetings after new administrative councils took charge in local bodies. Their resolutions seeking repeal of the farm laws were being sent to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Union Agriculture Minister.
The farmers would pray for 10 minutes on February 13. “A day of protest will be observed on February 14, when Mr. Modi visits the State. A march will be taken out from Kakkanad in Ernakulam in the evening,” he said. The sangh would call for a boycott of products and services of multi-national corporations.
