Farmers Movement Archive

Unions ask farmers to go back to Delhi

With the crowds of Punjab farmers starting to thin out at the Singhu and Tikri protest sites on the Delhi-Haryana border, Punjab’s farmers union leaders have decided to cancel plans for large mahapanchayats in the State and mobilise people to come to Delhi instead. They hope that large mobilisation for a countrywide rail roko protest on Friday will prove a turning point in their demands for repeal of the three farm reform laws and give them a legal guarantee for remunerative prices. The decision was taken at a meeting of 32 Punjab unions at the Singhu border on Tuesday, leaders said at an evening press conference. Buta Singh Burjgill, president of Bharatiya Kisan Union-Dakaunda said it was more important to strengthen the morcha in Delhi. He appealed to all unions and protestors to cancel any plans for mahapanchayats in the State. All India Kisan Sabha’s Punjab head Major Singh Punnawal urged Punjab’s villagers to collect money and travel together to Delhi to counter the idea that the movement was losing momentum. The mahapanchayats are giving the false impression that the Delhi morcha is being withdrawn, said Rajinder Singh Deep Singh Wala of the Kirti Kisan Union. The umbrella Samyukt Kisan Morcha, which includes unions from Punjab and elsewhere, has been actively promoting mahapanchayats, especially in Haryana, Rajasthan, western U.P., Madhya Pradesh and as far as Telangana. BKU-Tikait leader Rakesh Tikait, who has been drawing large crowds, has even announced that it is better for farmers to mobilise where they are rather than coming to the capital. SKM leaders also said they are preparing farmers for coming to Delhi when the call is given.

The Hindu

2021-02-17

NEW DELHI