Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM)

The Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), "United Farmers' Front", is the platform of farmer unions that led the protest against the three farm laws of 2020. It took shape in November 2020 (Wikipedia gives 7 November). Its Punjab unions included BKU (Rajewal), BKU (Ekta Ugrahan), BKU (Sidhupur) led by Jagjit Singh Dallewal, the Kirti Kisan Union and BKU (Krantikari). The Wire counted 32 unions from Punjab in December 2021, alongside unions from other states. Yogendra Yadav, Rakesh Tikait and Darshan Pal were among its national faces.

Key moments

• 26 November 2020: sit-ins begin at Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur on the Delhi borders.
• 26 January 2021: after violence during the Republic Day tractor parade, the SKM said it dissociated itself from "all such elements that have violated our discipline" and blamed antisocial elements for infiltrating the movement.
• 29 November 2021: Parliament repeals the three laws.
• 9 December 2021: the SKM suspends the protest after a government letter promising a committee on the minimum support price (MSP), withdrawal of cases and compensation for the families of the dead. It said about 715 farmers had died. Al Jazeera reports the SKM's count as nearly 700 and says the government claims it has no record of the deaths.
• Late 2021 and 2022: the front splits over electoral politics. In December 2021 some unions opposed contesting elections and others wanted their own party. Balbir Singh Rajewal later floated the Sanyukt Samaj Morcha, which lost the 2022 Punjab election by a wide margin. The Tribune says the differences led to the creation of the SKM (Non-Political), which later became the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM), with Dallewal as its coordinator.
• February 2024: the KMM's "Dilli Chalo" march begins on 13 February, and the SKM calls a separate "Bharat Bandh" on 16 February. On 24 February SKM spokesperson Prem Singh Bhangu said the factions led by Sarwan Singh Pandher, Dallewal and Manjit Singh Rai had parted ways with the SKM.
• 26 November 2024 to 6 April 2025: Dallewal, a senior leader of the joint forum of the SKM (Non-Political) and the KMM, fasts for a legal MSP guarantee and ends it at a mahapanchayat at Sirhind. Reports count the fast at 130 days (PTI, in ThePrint), 131 (The Tribune) or 132 (Deccan Chronicle).
• February 2026: the SKM calls the India-US interim trade framework a "total surrender" of Indian agriculture to American multinationals and demands the resignation of Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal. Farm groups back the general strike of central trade unions on 12 February.

Where it stands today: There are two bodies. The SKM, whose spokespersons and leaders have included Rajewal, Joginder Singh Ugrahan and Prem Singh Bhangu, and the SKM (Non-Political) with the KMM, whose figures include Dallewal and Pandher.