A day after the death of a 21-year-old protesting farmer on the Punjab-Haryana border, the Samyukta Kisan Morcha on Thursday demanded the registration of a murder case and announced a ‘Black Day’ and a tractor march across the country on February 26 to condemn the incident.
Subhkaran Singh, a native of Bathinda district, was killed on Wednesday amid clashes between Haryana Police and Punjab farmers, whose Delhi Chalo march has been stalled at the Khanauri border point in Punjab’s Sangrur’s district. He was brought dead at a hospital from Khanauri on the Sangrur-Jind border.
The SKM, which had led the 2020-21 farmers’ agitation against three controversial central farm laws, is not part of the Delhi Chalo agitation, however, it has been supporting it.
Following a meeting in Chandigarh, SKM leader Balbir Singh Rajewal told reporters that the organisation said that the farmers will take out tractor marches on highways across country on February 26 and hold a Mahapanchayat in Delhi on March 14. It added that effigies of Union Home Minister Amit Shah and his Haryana counterpart Anil Vij will be burnt on Friday to condemn the action by the police.
A case of murder should be registered over the death of the farmer at Khanauri border and his family be given Rs 1 crore in compensation, he said.
The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) and the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM) are leading the ‘Delhi Chalo’ march to advocate for several crucial demands, including securing a legal guarantee for Minimum Support Price (MSP) for crops and obtaining a farm loan waiver, implementation of the Swaminathan Commission’s recommendations, from the Centre.