AIKS warns India-US trade talks may hurt farmers, flags ‘land grab’ as it marks 90th anniversary

New Delhi: The All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) on Saturday warned that the ongoing India-US trade negotiations could open the farm sector to imports and hurt domestic cultivators.

It renewed demands for a legal Minimum Support Price (MSP) guarantee, loan waivers and safeguards against land acquisition.

Addressing the AIKS 90th anniversary event, senior CPI(M) leader Prakash Karat said the AIKS had grown into the country's largest farmers’ organisation and had played a historic role from the freedom movement onwards, mobilising peasants against British colonial rule and feudal forces.

“From the freedom struggle onwards, the Kisan Sabha has consistently raised the basic issues of farmers — land, remunerative prices and debt relief,” he said.

Karat expressed concern over what he described as corporate-driven policies and external pressure on India’s agricultural sector, particularly in the context of the proposed India-US trade agreement.

He said indications from the ongoing talks suggested that some agricultural imports might be allowed, warning that opening up the sector could adversely affect Indian farmers.

“So far, agriculture was not open to imports. The indications we have are that some agricultural imports may be agreed to,” he said.

He said the AIKS was working alongside other farmer organisations under the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) to resist policies seen as harmful to cultivators.

AIKS president Ashok Dhawale said the current agrarian situation was marked by growing distress caused by land acquisition, rising input costs, privatisation measures and weakening rural support systems.

He reiterated demands for a legal guarantee of MSP in line with the Swaminathan Commission’s recommendation of 1.5 times the cost of production, farm loan waivers, pensions, land rights, employment, education and healthcare.

Referring to the farmers’ agitation against the three farm laws, Dhawale said the year-long protest at Delhi’s borders was one of the largest mass movements in independent India and had compelled the Centre to repeal them.

“The struggle continues, and it will continue,” he said, adding that farmers and workers would keep resisting policies that, according to him, favoured corporates.

Recalling the historical legacy of peasant movements, Dhawale referred to the Telangana armed peasant struggle as one of the most significant agrarian movements in the country’s history.

He said nearly 10 lakh acres of land were redistributed among farmers and agricultural labourers during the movement, which he described as a landmark struggle carried out without state backing and at great human cost. He also cited post-Independence land reform measures in states such as Kerala, West Bengal, Tripura and Jammu and Kashmir, saying these had emerged from the legacy of the freedom movement and earlier peasant struggles.

However, Dhawale alleged that the gains of land reforms were now being reversed. “What is happening today is not land reform but land grab,” he said, claiming that land was being taken from ordinary farmers and tribal communities and handed over to big corporations through government-backed acquisition.

He said such trends were visible in states including Jharkhand, Odisha and Chhattisgarh, where land acquisition for industrial and infrastructure projects had triggered protests.

According to him, the current phase marked a reversal of the historic land reform agenda and a shift towards corporate control over agricultural and rural land. AIKS general secretary Vijoo Krishnan said the organisation had emerged as the country’s largest farmers’ body with over 1.56 crore members across 27 states and described the current phase as one of “intense attacks” on cultivators, agricultural labourers and workers.

He said the AIKS, along with other constituents of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha, would continue nationwide agitations on issues including land acquisition, loan waivers and procurement.

“We are not going to give up even an inch unless these policies are withdrawn and alternative policies in favour of farmers are put in place,” he said.

Krishnan added that the organisation would intensify its campaign against the proposed India-US trade deal and policies that, according to it, favoured corporates over farmers and agricultural workers.

The event commemorated the founding of the AIKS in 1936 in Lucknow and highlighted its role in key agrarian struggles, from the anti-colonial peasant movements to contemporary protests against land acquisition and trade liberalisation.