Farmers in Uttar Pradesh, like their counterparts in Punjab, Haryana and other parts of the country, took to the streets on Friday in protest against the controversial agricultural bills recently passed by Parliament.
Friday’s was the first major protest in UP, unlike in Punjab and Haryana which have been boiling over since the bills cleared Parliament’s hurdle.
In response to the so-called ‘Bharat Bandh’ given by various farmers’ organizations and supported by opposition parties, farmers blocked state and national roads, organized rallies of tractors and held demonstrations disrupting traffic for three to four hours in various districts of the state with the police a difficult time to deal with the protesters.
There were reports of clashes between the police and protesters in some districts, including Shrawasti and Kannauj.
Opposition parties, which supported farmers by joining the cause in various districts, included the Samajwadi Party, Congress, the Aam Aadmi Party and left-wing parties.
With Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU), a farmers’ organization with a strong presence in several northern Indian states, in the forefront, the impact was most visible in the dominant western UP districts in Jat that were on high alert with a strong police deployment. .
BKU State President Rajveer Singh Jadaun said Friday’s ‘chakka jam’ was a complete success with wide support from traders and the public. He regretted that the police tried to sabotage the peaceful unrest in some places.
“Ours was a totally peaceful upheaval and we made sure that emergency services, such as the ambulance movement, were not interrupted, but some policemen, who wanted to spoil the image of the state government, unnecessarily misbehaved towards our people and loaded with lathi in some places, “he claimed. .
Reports of protests started pouring in early in the morning, with a group of farmers bound for Lucknow blocking the Lucknow-Ayodhya highway in Barabanki and burning crop debris on the road in protest. Farmers intensified the agitation as the day wore on. The protests lasted until 3 in the afternoon.
In Lucknow, farmers protested at the Shahid Path junction as well as Bakshi Ka Talab while other groups demonstrated on the road near Akbarpur Mati in Kanpur Dehat and blocked the national road at Gursahaigunj in Kannauj.
In western UP, farmers blocked the Delhi-Noida highway, the NH 58 highway in Muzafarnagar, the Delhi-Saharanpur highway in Saharabpur, the Meerut-Karnal highway in Shamli, the Delhi-Pauri highway and the Falauda highway connecting Delhi with Haridwar and Dehardun, etc. In some places, farmers were seen riding tractors with loudspeakers blaring to patriotic songs, while at other times they were seen cooking food sitting on the same road. In many cases, they parked their tractors on the roads to cause a roadblock.
Mahoba and Jalaun in Bundelkhand also reported similar roadblocks.
Members of the SP joined the protests in various districts, including Lucknow, Prayagraj, Varanasi and Agra. They presented memoranda to the governor through the district administration demanding that the Center withdraw the “anti-farmer” bills.
Congressional workers marched in Varanasi, while AAP members and Allahabad University students staged separate protests in Prayagraj.
CONTENTIOUS INVOICES
Farmers have serious reservations about some provisions of the three bills: the Agricultural Products and Trade (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, the Farmers’ Agreement (Empowerment and Protection) on Price Guarantee and Agricultural Services and the Draft Essential Commodities Act (Amendment). by Parliament recently.
“The three proposed laws, if enacted without the proper amendments, will be a sure recipe for disaster for small farmers,” said Jadaun. “We have three specific demands. First, it should insert clauses in the new bills, indicating that the minimum support price (MSP) system will continue. Second, the maximum storage limit for traders will not be eliminated, and thirdly, the mandi fee will be eliminated for all agricultural products sold and bought in the mandi patios, ”emphasized Jadaun.
He said that the BKU national executive will hold its meeting in a day or two to take a call on the further course of action.
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