SKM calls for nationwide ‘Quit Corporates Day’ protest on Aug 13

Hyderabad: The Samyukth Kisan Morcha State Conveners unveiled the poster campaign for “Quit Corporates Day”, calling for statewide protests on August 13. The Morcha gave the call while releasing a poster on Tuesday.

Conveners condemned U.S. President Donald Trump’s recent threats of imposing 25% tariffs on India and punitive measures over India’s oil trade with Russia. “These are not just trade tactics—they are weapons aimed at sovereign nations,” said speakers, accusing American corporations of coercing open access to Indian markets.

Equally criticized was the Indian government’s “silent capitulation”, especially its signing of the India-UK Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), which they argued sacrifices national interests for foreign profit. Protest organizers warned that such deals would devastate India’s farmers and laborers by flooding markets with cheap imports and dismantling protections for local industries. “The India-US trade deal being negotiated is a blueprint for corporate plunder,” said one speaker, citing fears that agribusiness giants could exploit India’s dairy and agriculture sectors, triggering price collapses, widespread unemployment, and environmental degradation.

Campaigners highlighted concerns over healthcare and pharmaceutical monopolies enabled by CETA, asserting that British firms would increase medicine costs and seize control of public health infrastructure. The central government was also criticized for what the conveners described as an aggressive privatization agenda that undermines rights to water, forests, and land under the pretext of development.

The Samyukth Kisan Morcha urged farmers, workers, students, and citizens to mobilize in district centres, mandals, and villages. The day of resistance will include roadshows, vehicle rallies, demonstrations, and symbolic acts such as burning copies of trade agreements and effigies of Trump, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and the CETA pact.

Demands include immediate suspension of all US-India trade negotiations, a parliamentary review of CETA, and full public transparency in future trade deals. “We will not let history repeat itself,” declared organizers, likening current policies to the colonial exploitation of the East India Company.

August 13 will mark a modern echo of the Quit India movement, with farmers and workers pledging to defend national sovereignty and resist corporate imperialism, they added.