Dishonest Punjab Farmers Form Political Party to Betray Farmers Agitation
The dishonesty of SSM leaders who abandoned their agitation midway to fulfill their political ambitions will harm the interests of Sanyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM).
By Rakesh Raman
A group of Punjab farmers who betrayed the farmers to end their year-long agitation unscrupulously, have formed a new political group to contest the upcoming Punjab Assembly election in early 2022.
Formed under a deceptive name, Sanyukta Samaj Morcha (SSM) which resembles the Sanyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) group of farmers’ unions, the new political outfit has been formed by 22 of the 32 farm unions of Punjab.
It is being led by Balbir Singh Rajewal – a greedy farm leader – who tells blatant lies and deceives the gullible protesters. He kept saying that he will never enter electoral politics, but finally showed his true colors by joining the political party.
In a press conference on the launch of SSM, Rajewal again said today (December 25) that many people were asking him to form a political party, without telling the number or identity of those people. It is again a humbug that Rajewal is spreading to gain cheap publicity.
The SSM leaders are so confused that they say it is only a civil society group while they have announced to field their candidates on all the 117 Assembly seats of Punjab. There is also a likelihood that they will seek support of traditional political parties, although they have ostensibly appealed to the voters to defeat those parties such as Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Congress, and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD).
The dishonesty of SSM leaders who abandoned their agitation midway to fulfill their political ambitions will harm the interests of Sanyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), which is expected to relaunch the farm protests, as the government has indicated to reimpose the contentious farm laws that it has withdrawn.
The SKM leaders who are opposed to politics have raised their concerns over the formation of SSM, as they say that it will adversely affect their future struggle that is expected to take place after the SKM meeting on January 15, 2022.
In a TV interview on December 25, a senior SKM leader Darshan Pal condemned the formation of SSM political group saying that the breakaway group has betrayed SKM as it has formed the political party without SKM’s approval. He added that it is important to maintain the non-political character of the farm agitation.
By Rakesh Raman, who is a national award-winning journalist and social activist. He is the founder of a humanitarian organization RMN Foundation which is working in diverse areas to help the disadvantaged and distressed people in the society.
