The farm reform bills, passed amid protests by the opposition and BJP ally Akali Dal in Parliament this week, have sparked resentment across India among farmers who fear the new legislation will remove the Minimum Price Support (MSP).
Since yesterday, farmers have shouted slogans and blocked roads in various parts of the country, protesting against the three agro-marketing bills. The most widespread protests occurred in Punjab and Haryana, but demonstrations were also reported in Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Kerala and Karnataka as part of the call for Bharat bandh by various farmers’ unions.
More than 30 organizations had held a separate bandh call in Punjab, prompting farmers to block roads and merchants to close shops and vegetable markets for the day. The bandh in the state seemed to be almost total. Hundreds of farmers, on foot, in two-wheelers and tractors, were stopped at the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border as they tried to move towards the national capital, and their agitation disrupted traffic in Noida and Ghaziabad.
When prevented from entering the city, farmers organized “panchayats” at roadblocks, where officials from the Bhartiya Kisan Union addressed them. Addressing BJP leaders and workers on the birthday anniversary of party ideologue Deendayal Upadhyay, Prime Minister Narendra Modi again made a speech in favor of new laws aimed at deregulating the sale of agricultural products.
But farmers’ unions and opposition parties say they will lead to the dismantling of the minimum support price (MSP) system. In West Bengal, farmers’ organizations loyal to left-wing parties organized protests.
CPI (M) Farmers Wing ‘Sara Bharat Krishak Sabha’ and those of other left-wing partners like CPI, Forward Bloc and RSP held demonstrations in Hooghly, Murshidabad, North 24 Parganas, Bankura and Nadia. In Karnataka, there were demonstrations across the state and many farmers came to the capital Bengaluru to take part in protests against amendments to the Agricultural Products Marketing Committee Law and the Karnataka Agrarian Reform Law.
Farmers under the All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) umbrella organized protests in Kerala, including outside the Raj Bhavan in the capital Thiruvananthapuram. In Barnala, Punjab, protesters set fire to a tractor.
Punjab farmers blocked the Sangrur-Patiala, Chandigarh-Bathinda and Ambala-Rajpura-Ludhiana and Moga-Ferozepur roads, causing traffic diversions and difficulties for travelers. Buses from the state-owned Pepsu Road Transport also ran off the roads in Punjab.
Shiromani Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Singh Badal was driving a tractor while his wife and former Union Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal sat next to him in Muktsar district. He led a tractor march from his town of Badal to Lambi, where the party had organized a protest against the bills. In several other places, party workers blocked roads.
Leading Punjabi singers such as Harbhajan Mann and Ranjit Bawa participated in a farmers’ protest in Nabha. A three-day rail roko that started on Thursday is also underway in Punjab, with farmers busy on the tracks in many parts of Punjab and railways suspending many trains.
The Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee announced its extension for another three days on Friday. Buses operated by the state-owned Pepsu Road Transport Corporation also remained off the roads on Friday. In neighboring Haryana, farmers blocked Karnal-Meerut, Rohtak-Jhajjar and Delhi-Hisar and other roads.
Apart from Noida and Ghaziabad, which border New Delhi, there were protests by farmers scattered in western Uttar Pradesh and in districts such as Deoria, Kushinagar and Maharajganj. The Samajwadi Party said its workers held protests in all districts of the UP, presenting memoranda addressed to the governor to district magistrates.
The Agricultural Products Trade and Trade (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill of 2020, the Farmers’ Agricultural Price and Services Guarantee Agreement (Empowerment and Protection) of 2020 and the Essential Products (Amendment) Bill of 2020, they now await the presidential consent.
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