As the protest at Delhi’s doorstep against the Centre’s three farm laws completes its seventh month tomorrow, the Samyukt Kisan Morcha, an amalgamation of farmer groups and organisations from across the country, has written to President Ramnath Kovind highlighting their “deep anguish and indignation” and urged him to “immediately accept the legitimate demands of the farmers’ movement”. 

The SKM, which is spearheading the protest, has given a nationwide agitation on June 26. “When India became independent, we (annadaatas) used to feed 33 crore citizens in the country; today, in about the same extent of land, we manage to feed around 140 crore Indians,” reads SKM’s letter to the President. “During the Coronavirus pandemic, while other sectors in the economy decelerated and slumped, we achieved record production in agriculture, ensured that our granaries were over-flowing and did so risking our own lives. However, in return for this kind of service that we provided to the entire country, the Government of India which runs on your seal of assent, thrust on us three anti-farmer black laws which will destroy our farming as well as our future generations, laws that will snatch agriculture from our hands and hand over to big corporations.”