QUEENS, NY (TIP): “It is a great day for democracy and freedom and a humongous victory for the farmers in their struggle for justice and fairness. The enormous sacrifices they have made in this struggle show the indomitable human spirit that has overcome the arrogant misuse of power at the highest order. We also salute 700 of those farmers who have lost their lives during this struggle. An apology should be forthcoming as well for name-callings at the farmers such as ‘anti-nationals’ for exercising their legitimate rights to protest government policies”, said George Abraham, Vice-Chairman of the IOCUSA. It is not lost on anyone that the timing of this decision has a lot to do with upcoming elections in some key states such as U.P. and Punjab, where farmers are a very influential voting bloc. In the last five years, their governance showed little regard in addressing the grievances of ordinary people but favored the crony capitalists who are the big beneficiaries. While we welcome the Prime Minister’s announcement, the parliament should convene at the earliest to repeal these laws and reinstate the Minimum Price Guarantee as demanded by the farmers. We also appeal to the government to pay reparations to those farmers who lost their lives during the struggle.