Chandigarh/Gurgaon: Farmers in Punjab and Haryana took to the roads on Sunday to protest against the Modi government’s agri-marketing bills, which were cleared by both Houses of Parliament and are now awaiting the presidential nod to become laws.
While angry farmers in Punjab villages burnt numerous effigies of the Modi government and copies of the three agri-marketing bills, protests in Haryana remained relatively peaceful even as three MLAs of BJP’s coalition partner Jannayak Janata Party (JJP) went against the official line spelled out by the party’s senior member and deputy CM Dushyant Chautala and expressed solidarity with the protesters, reflecting a rift among their ranks.
As the three bills cleared the Rajya Sabha hurdle with a voice vote, a “deeply saddened” Shiromani Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Singh Badal urged President Ram Nath Kovind not to approve them and instead return them to Parliament for reconsideration. Punjab CM Captain Amarinder Singh once again said that his government will take BJP and its allies, including the Akalis, to court over the new “unconstitutional, undemocratic and anti-farmer” laws passed by the central government. “They clearly don’t care for what these laws will do to the farmers,” he said, slamming the Modi government for “selling” the interests of the farmers to big corporates.
The farmers in Punjab have already announced they will enforce a Punjab Bandh on September 25 and rail roko from September 24 to 26. The protests were mostly peaceful in Punjab. However, the one led by Youth Congress in Mohali district turned ugly when farmers unsuccessfully tried to break a police cordon to enter Haryana. Police resorted to mild lathi-charge and used tear gas and water cannons to control the mob.
Protesters across Haryana resorted to a ‘chakka jam’ and disrupted traffic on national and state highways for over three hours.
Farmers demand rolling back of farm bills
On a call given by the All-India Farmers’ Struggle Coordination Committee, at least 30 farmer organisations met at Moga and demanded an immediate rollback of the farm bills, which they said were against the farming community in Punjab as well as in other states.
They also termed the resignation of SAD minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal from the Union Cabinet a political stunt as the Akalis were still part of the NDA government. Joginder Singh Ugrahan, state president, BKU (Ekta Ugrahan), said all farmer organisations had decided to hold a complete bandh in Punjab on September 25 in protest against the bills. “It will be a complete shutdown of public transport system and business establishments. Trains will be halted at identified locations in the state,” he said.
Farmers reject parties’ offer
The farmers have also rejected the offer of the political parties to join their agitation. Two dharnas organised by farmers are going on, one in Patiala, the hometown of CM Capt Amarinder Singh, and second at Badal village, outside the residence of Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal. Farmers have also been laying siege to national and state highways.
Balbir Singh Rajewal, president of BKU (Rajewal), said they want to fight on their own. “There is no way that we will take support from the politicians, who change colours once voted to power. If the farmers can feed the entire country, they can also fight for their cause and bring the country to a halt. Any politician who fails to support us and favours these bills, will be taught a lesson,” he said.
An AAP delegation had offered to support the farmers’ dharna at Badal village. Sukhdev Singh Kokrikalan, general secretary of BKU (Ekta Ugrahan), said they outrightly rejected the offer. “Politicians want to use our protests for their political gains. Just as we are protesting, let these parties, too, launch similar agitations if they support us. Their political statements will not suffice. If they are serious, they need to do much more to save the farm economy,” he said.
