Farmer unions demand President’s rule in MP

New Delhi, June 10 (IANS) The Rashtriya Kisan Mahasangh, an umbrella body of 62 farmer unions, on Saturday passed a resolution seeking dismissal of the Madhya Pradesh government and imposition of President's rule in the state.

To express their anger against the "anti-farmer polices" of the Narendra Modi government, these unions have decided to block traffic for three hours on all national highways across the country on June 16.

Deepak Sharma, spokesperson of the Bhartiya Kisan Union-Asli, said: "We have decided to hold nationwide agitation till June 15 as the BJP governments in the Centre and states have failed to solve farmers' problems. On June 16, we will block national highways from 12 p.m to 3 p.m."

The Mahasangh has demanded 50 per cent profit over input cost, as promised by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) before 2014 Lok Sabha elections, and loan waiver citing financial burden on farmers due to drought and poor returns to their produce.

Naresh Sirohi, General Secretary of the Rashtriya Kisan Mazdoor Sangh, said all farmers had been asked to shoot videos of protest marches.

"We have been doing protests peacefully. But the BJP government has used brutal ways to suppress our agitations. So, we have asked farmers to shoot videos of protest marches," he said.

Sirohi further said that all farmer unions would meet on June 18 to decide the next course of ongoing agitations.

Meanwhile, the All India Kisan Sabha -- a wing of the Communist Party of India -- has decided to observe June 14 as "Protest Day" across the country against the Mandsaur police firing on farmers by the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government.