Farmers’ Agitations Stir Panjab: MSP Demand & Farm Debt Waiver

September

2026

Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM) has begun a five-day protest from 14 Sep outside the residences of Panjab Assembly Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan and seven Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) ministers, including the state party president Aman Arora. The immediate trigger is the power supply crisis and fertilizer shortage for the paddy crop. But the demands extend to Minimum Support Price (MSP), farm debt, river waters, land acquisition, drugs, unemployment, and Panjab’s relations with the union government. KMM is demanding MSP-based procurement of basmati, maize, moong, mustard, and potatoes. KMM joined hands with Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU Ekta Ugrahan), which protested outside the residences of AAP ministers on 12 Sep and of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders on 13 Sep. In Muktsar district, a large number of farmers and farm workers gathered at the residence of Panjab Agriculture Minister Gurmeet Singh Khuddian, demanding cancellation of the proposed India-US free trade agreement, withdrawal of the state’s land pooling policy, and an end to drone surveys. The protests signal that in the coming months, the farmers’ agitation could form a political challenge for the BJP-led union government and the AAP-led Panjab government. Meanwhile, a seven-day protest under the banner of Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) was called off on 7 Sep after the Panjab government conceded to demands of the farmers, including convening a special session of the Panjab Assembly to take up issues concerning the state’s river waters and farming. In Faridkot, farmer-police stand-off ended in truce on 9 Sep with farmers agreeing to defer their agitation until 23 Sep in view of the annual Baba Farid Festival in town. The stand-off began when police, preventing farmers from congregating in Faridkot for a Kisan Panchayat (farmers’ gathering) called by the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (Non-Political), placed several prominent farm union leaders, including Jagjit Singh Dallewal, under house arrest. Additionally, union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said that the Seeds Bill 2025 protects farmers' rights to grow, sow, save, exchange, and sell farm-saved seeds, while adding that there was no deadline yet to finalize the Bill. He rejected concerns that the proposed law will interfere with farmers’ traditional seed practices and said that more suggestions from farmers and farmer organizations would be considered before the final draft is prepared (earlier coverage).