Jammu, Feb 16: The Jammu and Kashmir unit of CITU and the Kisan Tehrik led by senior CPI(M) leader M Y Tarigami on Friday held a protest here in support of the farmers who have hit the streets demanding among other things a law guaranteeing a Minimum Support Price (MSP) for their produce.
Tarigami, who is also the president of J&K unit of Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), said the protest was organized in support of the nationwide strike called by Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) along with central trade unions and federations.
Amid chants of anti-government, pro-farmer and pro-worker slogans, the protesters assembled outside the Maharaja Hari Singh Park and held a peaceful protest. However, they were not allowed to take out a rally by policemen who were deployed in strength.
“After a long struggle last year, the farmers were successful in compelling the government to revoke three farm laws. The government had made several promises but failed to keep them, forcing the farmers to come on the streets once again,” Tarigami said.
He appealed to the prime minister to accept the demands of the farmers and implement the recommendations of renowned agriculture scientist M S Swaminathan, who was recently awarded Bharat Ratna, to provide relief to the farmers.
The farmers are suffering in the absence of the MSP and they should be given a one-time loan waiver as well, he said, criticizing privatization of public sector and change of labour laws.
“The workers employed in industrial, public or private sector are suffering due to inflation and low wages. The government is behaving in a dictatorial way which should be ended as we are a democracy,” Tarigami said.
He also demanded restoration of the old pension scheme, and ensure pension and social security for all workers in both formal and informal sectors.
The CPI(M) leader also condemned the “police action of using force” against a similar protest in Srinagar and said “this is Naya (new) Kashmir where nobody is allowed to highlight their demand in a democratic manner.”
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