New Delhi: The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) will hold a tractor parade on Republic Day in around 500 districts across the country, the organistion said in a statement said on Thursday. The tractor parade will be held after the conclusion of the formal Republic Day parade in the national capital, it said.

"SKM shall hold tractor parade on January 26, 2024 at district level in all states and Union territories. It is expected that the parade shall be held in at least 500 districts. SKM appeals to farmers to join the parade in great numbers and after the conclusion of the formal parade at Delhi, the tractor parade will be held.

"The farmers participating in the parade will fly-high the national flag along with the flags of the constituent organisations. Farmers will take pledge to protect the principles of democracy, federalism, secularism and socialism enshrined in the Constitution of India. Along with tractors, other vehicles and motorcycles will also join the parade," the statement read.

The SKM state units in 20 states will conduct "Jana Jagaran" campaign from January 10-20 next year across India through door-to-door visits and distribution of leaflets. The aim of the mass campaign "is to expose the pro-corporate economic policies" of the central government, it said.

The SKM has called on the farmers across India to make the campaign and the parade successful to remove "the corporate-communal nexus that exploits and divides people through communal and casteist polarisation".

The struggle will be intensified till all the demands are met by the union government, the statement added.

On January 26, 2021, thousands of protesting farmers had clashed with the police during a tractor rally called by farmer unions demanding that the Centre's three farm laws be repealed.

Some protesters reached the Red Fort and hoisted religious flags on its domes and the flagstaff at the ramparts, where the national flag is unfurled by the prime minister on Independence Day.