Chandigarh: Cutting across party lines, the day-long statewide protests by farmers evoked a good response in Punjab and Haryana as normal life was disrupted, but in Chandigarh it was almost normal.
Rail traffic across Punjab was badly hit as farmers, farm labourers, commission agents and activists of political parties squatted on railway lines.
There was no report of any untoward incident from anywhere in the states.
The activists of several farmer associations were seen asking traders at several places in the Congress-ruled Punjab to keep their shops and business establishments closed to mark the pan-India protest.
Reports of shutdown of shops and other establishments were received from Punjab’s Patiala, Ludhiana, Bathinda, Moga, Hoshiarpur, Jalandhar and other places.
Sufficient security arrangements were made in both the states to prevent any untoward incident, said a senior police official here.
In a first-of-its-kind show of solidarity, 31 farmer organisations in Punjab announced a joint protest.
Several trains have been suspended since Thursday as farmers began a three-day ‘rail roko’ campaign against the Bills.
The Ferozepur Railway division decided to suspend operation of special trains till September 26 in view of the safety of passengers, a rail official told IANS.
Protests are being held at 125 places in Punjab, said the All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee. All main highways were blocked by farmers.
Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh has appealed to all political parties to rise above “petty considerations” and come on one platform to fight unitedly against the “treacherous” Bills that would destroy the state’s farmers.
“The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Union Government has stooped to a new low by bringing these Bills, and that too in a totally undemocratic and unparliamentary manner,” said Amarinder Singh, adding that his government, supported by the Congress state unit, will oppose the Legislations tooth and nail in the interest of not just the farmers and the state but the entire country.
He has appealed to the farmers to strictly maintain law and order, and adhere to all Covid-19 safety protocols.
The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), an ally of the BJP-led NDA government, announced a statewide ‘chakka jam’ to mark their protest.
SAD President Sukhbir Singh Badal has asked the Punjab Chief Minister to immediately declare the entire state of Punjab a ‘principal market yard’ for agricultural produce so that the Center’s Bills on agricultural marketing do not apply in the state.
“This is the best, the quickest and the most effective way for Punjab to pre-empt the application of the Center’s latest anti-farmer Bills in the state because the Center’s Bills do not and will not apply to ‘principal market yards’ declared by any state government,” he said.
The SAD has been a longstanding ally of the ruling BJP. SAD’s Lok Sabha MP and Sukhbir Badal’s wife Harsimrat Kaur Badal had resigned from the Union Cabinet on September 17, citing her party’s opposition to the three Bills.
Interestingly, many Punjabi singers have extended their support to the ‘bandh’ call given by farmers.
Popular Punjabi singer and actor Harbhajan Mann in a tweet said he along with several other artists would be participating in the protest.
In Haryana, activists of the Bharatiya Kisan Union activists along with sacked physical training instructors showed black flags to Agriculture Minister J.P. Dalal on Thursday in Mudlana village in Sonepat district.
Terming the Farm Bills as a ‘revolutionary step’, Haryana BJP state chief O.P. Dhankar said these would open up multiple options for farmers to sell their produce.
Tejashwi seeks rollback of agri Bills, leads ‘tractor march’
Patna: Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejashwi Yadav on Friday demanded that the Centre shelve the three contentious agriculture-related Bills that have led to agitation by farmers in many state.
He said that the protests by farmers were increasing in every state across the country. “They are coming out on the roads to protest against the Bills got passed by the Narendra Modi government,” the former Deputy Chief Minister said after leading a ‘tractor march’ on Patna roads.
“My party strongly opposes the Bills and demands a rollback. The Modi government has put the agriculture sector in private hands, similar to the railways and civil aviation sectors, in a bid to benefit corporate friends funding the BJP,” said Tejashwi, who is Leader of the Opposition in Bihar Assembly.
“Moreover, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, as is his habit, is again showing hostility. His party JD-U’s spokesman has claimed that Minimum Support Price will be mentioned in the relevant Bill,” the RJD leader.
“Nitish was earlier against protests on Citizenship (Amendment) Act, National Register of Citizens, demonetisation and other issues. He is doing it again. He doesn’t care about farmers, unemployed youths, or the flood situation in Bihar; he just cares about his chair.”
“We have already pointed out that MSPs of different crops have gone down in Bihar after Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC) Act was abolished in 2006 by the Nitish Kumar government. Our farmers will be completely dependent on industrialists with the new laws. It will increase the monopoly of corporates in agriculture sector too,” Tejashwi said.
As for coalition talks with other parties ahead of Assembly polls, he said that he was holding talks with Rashtriya Lok Samta Party and Left parties and the consultations were moving in the right direction.
“RLSP leader Upendra Kushwaha came to my residence for a meeting. I am hopeful of positive results,” he said.
Earlier, Kushwaha publicaly announced that the coalition with the RJD was a very tough issue. He had asked party supporters to be prepared to contest all 243 seats in Bihar.
On Friday morning, in the wake of a call for a bandh by different political parties to protest against the passage of the three contentious agriculture-related Bills by Parliament, Tejashwi had led a ‘tractor march’ on the Patna roads.
“The Bills hold big consequences for the future of farmers. These proposed laws will paralyse the farmers as well as the entire agriculture sector in the country. The Bills were forcibly got passed by the central government in a bid to make the Indian farmers dependent on industrialists,” Tejashwi, the former Deputy Chief Minister, said while riding a tractor.
A procession of around 50 tractors followed the Rashtriya Janata Dal leader, with his party supporters shouting slogans against the NDA government over the Bills.
Earlier, the ‘tractor march’ began from Tejashwi Yadav’s official residence located just behind Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s residence on Anne Marg.
The protesters, without following social distancing norms, were headed toward the Governor’s House when a posse of police briefly stopped them for security reasons. They were, however, allowed to proceed towards Bailey Road.
The procession was scheduled to take a round of the Income Tax roundabout, Dak Bungalow Chowk and return to the RJD office on Veerchand Patel Road.
Due to the movement of the convoy of tractors, normal traffic was badly hit in the state capital, especially the busy Bailey Road.
TN farmers protest in Trichy, Tambaram
Chennai: Members of some farmer organisations protested in Trichy and Tambaram in Tamil Nadu on Friday morning against the three farm Bills passed by Parliament.
Led by Tamil Nadu Farmers’ Association President P Ayyakannu, half-clad farmers held their protest outside the Collectorate in Trichy while carrying human skulls in their hands. They demanded that the Bills should not be made into law.
In Tambaram near here, farmers and members of the Communist Party of India-Marxist also protested against the Bills.
Meanwhile, Agriculture Minister R Doraikkannu said the Bills will not impact the farmers in Tamil Nadu.
Chief Minister K Palaniswami has also supported the Bills, saying they are beneficial for the state’s farmers.
Thousands of farmers protest in Maharashtra
Mumbai: Thousands of peasants took to the streets all over Maharashtra on Friday raising slogans, carrying banners and posters to protest against what they termed as “the anti-farmers” law recently passed by Parliament.
The agitation has been supported by the Congress, Nationalist Congress Party, All India Kisan Sabha, Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana and other major farmers organisations in the state.
Spearheaded by AIKS President Ashok Dhawale from Palghar, in Mumbai it was led by Mahendra Ugade, Sunil Kharpat in Thane, Subhash Dake in Beed, Govind Ardad in Jalna, Sudam Thakre in Nandurbar, Arjun Ade in Nanded.
In Kolhapur, Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana President Raju Shetti urged farmers in the state and all over the country to protest the laws with full vigour, and led an agitation in which a bonfire was made of the copies of the law.
“These laws are detrimental to the very survival of the farming community. The government has pushed through these laws undemocratically and it was a black day when it was passed in parliament… We will not tolerate the injustice meted out to the farmers,” Shetti.
State SSS President Sandeep Jagtap led farmers in Nashik where they protested by burning an effigy of the centre and shouted slogans condemning the government.
Similar protests are being carried out in Mumbai, Thane, Palghar, Pune, Kolhapur, Nashik, Nandurbar, Jalna, Beed, Aurangabad, Nanded, Yavatmal, Buldhana with thousands of farmers taking part in the agitation and marching to offices of the local Collectors or tehsildars.
