Samyukt Kisan Morcha to meet CMs, Opposition leaders against U.S. deal in fight for federal rights

The Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), the umbrella body of various farm outfits, has decided to meet Chief Ministers and Opposition leaders of all States with their demand that the India-United States bilateral trade agreement must be scrapped. The SKM launched “Strong States for Strong India” campaign to protect federal rights and restore taxation power of States by amending the Goods and Services Taxes (GST) Act.

Talking to reporters, SKM leaders said in New Delhi on Thursday (February 26, 2026) that they will submit a memorandum to the Chief Ministers and Leaders of Opposition for protecting interest of farmers by holding special sessions of State Assemblies and adopting resolutions asking the Union government to refrain from signing the “anti-national” trade deal.

“We reiterate our demand to dismiss Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal for betraying the interest of farmers. We will ask the CMs to ask the Union government to withdraw a letter from Union Finance Ministry asking States to end bonus on wheat and paddy,” the leaders added. The other demands in the memorandum include repealing the VB-GRAMG Act 2025 and restore MGNREG Act, repeal the four Labour Codes and take measures to address the decline in fiscal autonomy of States.

“As per the Economic Survey 2025-26 tabled in Parliament by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on January 29, 2026, the number of revenue surplus States severely fell from 19 in the financial year 2018-19 to 11 in the financial year 2025-26,” the memorandum noted, adding that while the “Make in India” initiative was launched in 2014 to raise the share of the manufacturing sector to 25% by 2022, the manufacturing value-added percentage of GDP has fallen from over 16% in 2014 to below 13% in 2024-25.

“Both the above unambiguous facts are more than enough to expose the volley of propaganda by the corporate media and the NDA government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi regarding the Viksit Bharat 2047, which is nothing but colourful false advertisement and enough to help any sensible citizen to open their eyes and get liberated from the illusion of the current corporate-driven development trajectory,” the memorandum further said.