Nationwide mobilisation against trade deals, labour codes and voter-roll revision
Farmers’ unions under the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) have called a nationwide mobilisation on 26 November, the sixth anniversary of the 2020 to 21 farmers’ protest on the borders of New Delhi. They are protesting free trade agreements that they say will open India’s agricultural market to subsidised foreign produce while their long-standing demands go unaddressed.
The 2020 to 21 movement lasted 384 days and forced the government to withdraw three farm laws. SKM was born during that struggle as a united front of farmers’ unions.
In a press release issued on Monday, 9 November, SKM said the Modi government has not fulfilled any of the assurances it gave six years ago, when the movement was suspended. The government’s assurances were set out in a letter dated 9 December 2021 from the Agriculture Secretary, and the protest was suspended on 11 December.
“In 2020, farmers numbering in the hundreds of thousands fought the pro-corporate three farm laws. In the signed agreement of 9 December 2021, farmers were given hope that the government would solve their problems. However, they have been betrayed,” SKM said.
SKM’s main demands include a law guaranteeing the minimum support price (MSP) for all farm products at the total cost of production plus 50%, and the scrapping of the free trade agreements signed with the European Union, the UK and New Zealand, along with the proposed deal with the US. It also demands the restoration of MGNREGA, which was replaced by the VB-G RAM G Act, with 200 days of guaranteed work and a daily wage of Rs 700.
SKM says the trade deals will expose Indian farmers to highly subsidised agricultural goods. In its reaction to the US deal, it said soybean, maize, cotton and dairy would be hit first and called the move a surrender to US pressure. It argues that farmers are already struggling with rising input costs and inadequate returns.
The 26 November action will also carry the demands of workers’ unions, including the repeal of the four labour codes that came into effect in November 2025. The unions argue the codes weaken the right to organise and to strike.
Defending democracy
SKM is also backing the opposition’s campaign against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. It has demanded the removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. Its release called for the SIR to be cancelled and for the reinstatement of all the more than 130 million voters it says have been removed from the rolls.
The 13 crore figure is widely used by the opposition and civil society groups, and SKM has cited it before. The Election Commission disputes the characterisation. It says about 13 crore electors were placed in the “absent, shifted, dead and duplicate” categories at the draft stage, not all of them deleted. The BJP has said 2.8 crore of the names were of deceased voters. Congress asked where the remaining 10.2 crore names went.
The opposition alleges that the removals were intended to tilt elections towards the BJP, a charge the Election Commission rejects.
The 26 November plan
SKM’s plan is for Kisan marches and multi-day demonstrations in New Delhi and about 100 locations across the country, with the form and venues to be announced.
Delhi Police has denotified Jantar Mantar as a designated protest site under an order dated 11 October and named three alternative venues, including Ramlila Ground and Burari Ground.