22 farmer unions launch a political party, to contest all seats
As many as 22 farmer unions of Punjab have formed ‘Samyukt Samaj Morcha’ to contest the upcoming Punjab Assembly polls. The 22 unions were a part of Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) to protest three contentious farm laws.
The party will contest on all the 117 seats in Punjab and they have announced Balbir Singh Rajewal as Chief Minister’s face. Rajewal clarified that they have no s no alliance with any political party, not even AAP. However, Rajewal hasn’t ruled out any future possibility.
Rajewal told the media here that they were doing it on public demand. “Some of the unions are against it but won’t oppose,” he said.
Rajewal further added, “The people in villages and cities were restless as they believed that the working of the all-mainstream parties was not clean and transparent. Corruption has engulfed them. “That is why we have now decided to take the electoral plunge and give a clean and transparent government to the people of Punjab.”
Ten other unions belonging to the state and were part of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha have refused to be part of the political front. They comprised the Krantikari Kisan Union (Darshan Pal), the BKU Krantikari (Surjit Phool) and the BKU Sidhupur (Jagjit Dallewal). They have taken a clear stand against contesting elections and said that the farmers’ struggle is still a long way to go because the struggle has been only postponed following the repeal of the three farm laws by the Union government.
Responding to the announcement of the political front, farmer leader Darshan Pal said, “Most of the demands of the farmers like the MSP (minimum support price) are yet to be accepted. By launching the political front, the movement of farmers might be weakened.”
He said the SKM was formed for a bigger purpose and he has suggested that the farm leaders should not do injustice to farmers by entering politics.
“Every union has the right to make its own decisions. We have earned the trust of farmers across the country and will not enter politics,” Pal added.
Earlier this month, BKU (Haryana) President Gurnam Singh Chaduni announced his political outfit Samyukta Sangharsh Party, saying the party will fight the upcoming Punjab elections.
[With Inputs from IANS]
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