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The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh-affiliate Bhartiya Kisan Sangh (BKS) held a huge rally December 19, 2022, at Ramlila Ground in the national capital to demand remunerative prices for farmers’ crops.
The BKS called the event as the ‘Kisan Garajna (Farmers’ Roar) Rally’. It also warned the government of trouble if farmers’ demands were not paid heed to.
Scores of farmers, who had come to Delhi from other states, demanded remunerative prices on the basis of input costs along with withdrawal of permission to genetically modified (GM) crops.
The Centre had recently given the go-ahead for the environmental release of GM mustard.
Other demands included abolition of Goods and Services Tax on all types of agricultural inputs and a substantial increase in the government’s flagship ‘Kisan Samman Nidhi’ (PM-KISAN) direct cash transfer scheme.
Income support of Rs 6,000 per year in three equal instalments was being provided to all land-holding farmer families under PM-KISAN.
An estimated 60,000 people participated in the rally according to the organisers.
“In the last four months, about 20,000 kilometres (km) of foot marches, 13,000 km of cycle rallies and 18,000 street meetings, including large gatherings in Telangana and Madhya Pradesh, were organised by BKS. Now, this mega rally has been organised at Delhi’s Ramlila maidan today,” Raghavendra Patel, All India campaign chief of BKS told the media.
A note issued by the organisation said cost of inputs like fertilisers, seeds, diesel and pesticides had increased manifold and demanded a ‘beneficial price’ (laabhkari mulya) for the crop.
It was on December 11 last year that lakhs of farmers gathered for a year in the border areas of Delhi to protest against three farm laws brought out by the Centre had ended their agitation.
Their major demand, other than repeal of the laws, was of ensuring a legal status for minimum support price, which is still pending.