SKM plans all-India Jana Jagaran campaign on Modi govt’s pro-corporate policies

In a significant move that may have an impact on the outcome of the forthcoming 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) has announced the launch of its Jana Jagaran campaign.

The nationwide initiative, aimed at challenging the Modi government's corporate-driven development narrative, will kick off on 10 January and run until 20 January 2024.

Spearheaded by all SKM constituent organisations, the campaign will initiate door-to-door visits, aiming to cover 40 per cent of the 30.4 crore households across India.

Before the launch of the campaign, the SKM on Tuesday released notices and leaflets outlining the acute and lingering agrarian crisis in India.

The campaign material, translated into all national languages, sheds light on the challenges faced by farmers, agricultural workers and the youth, emphasising the need for an alternative policy of development.

The core objectives of the campaign, according to SKM leaders, include addressing the agrarian crisis, ensuring increased income and stable employment for farmers and workers, and preventing corporate profiteering.

The Jana Jagaran campaign also aims to garner massive support for the concrete demands outlined in the charter adopted during the first-ever All India Convention of Workers and Farmers on 24 August 2023 in New Delhi.

During the campaign, activists will distribute campaign materials—including notices and leaflets, which will also have translated content—in villages and towns across the country, said SKM.

Seeking to expose the fallacies in the Modi government's narrative of corporate-driven development, the SKM campaign looks to highlight growing income inequality in India and the denial of minimum support prices (MSPs) to farmers and minimum wages for workers.

Central trade unions (CTUs) have pledged their support to the Jana Jagaran Campaign. State-level coordination committee meetings are underway to ensure effective preparation and execution of the campaign as well.

The initiative will culminate in a tractor/vehicle parade on 26 January 2024, Republic Day, at the district level across India, with the active participation of farmers, workers and their families, said an SKM spokesperson.