On Saturday, Gurnam Singh Charuni, leader of the Bharatiya Kisan Union and one of the leading figures in the farmers' protest against agriculture laws, launched his own political party - the Sanyukt Sangharsh Party. During the campaign, Charuni said that the party plans to run in all 117 Punjabi seats. Punjab is scheduled to hold elections for a state assembly next year.

Farmer leaders have said at a press conference in Chandigarh that politics is becoming polluted in the country and needs to be reformed. “Policymakers in our country are promoting capitalism,” he said. “They make policies to favour capitalists not the poor.”

Charuni said his party’s objective is to cleanse politics. “We will bring good people forward,” he added. “We will push out from politics, those who are looting the poor. We aim to create equality and provide free education and medical treatment.”

Leader of Bharatiya Kisan Union says his party will have people from various communities. In his press conference, he introduced them. Charuni was one of the founders of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha, an umbrella body for farmers' unions that led massive protests at the entry points at the Delhi border. Last week marked the end of the protests, which lasted more than a year.

In September last year, three agricultural laws were passed. The farmers demanded their repeal. Corporate dominance would be ushered in by the laws, according to them. After finally giving in to their demand, the Centre cancelled the laws on November 19.

Even so, the farmers didn't end their agitation right away. As part of the agitation, they also demanded the acceptance of other demands, such as guaranteeing minimum support prices, cancelling charges against protestors, and granting compensation to families of those who died.

Farmers were assured that the Centre would form a committee to discuss the minimum support price. In a letter to the farmer bodies on December 9, the Centre said “that many states had agreed to withdraw cases filed against the protesters during the agitation. The state governments of Uttar Pradesh and Haryana have approved compensation for the families of farmers who died during the protests, the Centre added”.

Image source: ANI