Farmers Movement Archive

Farmers gherao, show black flags to BJP leaders

Bathinda/Ropar, March 25Scores of farmers owing allegiance to the Bhartiya Kisan Union (Ugrahan), women and children staged a protest in front of a hotel in Bathinda where former state minister and senior BJP leader Surjit Kumar Jyani had come to address a press conference on Thursday. The farmers raised slogans against the minister and the Union Government, demanding the repeal of the three farm laws.Hoshiar Singh, a BKU (Ugrahan) leader, said: “We will oppose all BJP leaders in the state and won’t let them enter, address or interact with anyone here. These laws are not only against farmers, but also all sections of society.” Singh added: “We have gheraoed both entrance and exit points of the hotel and won’t let Jyani leave.”During a press conference, Jyani said: “As far as the farmer unions’ demand for the repeal of the three laws is concerned, the government has already ruled it out. Sticking to an adamant stance of yes or no will not resolve the issue.”On farmers’ death at Delhi borders, Jyani said: “The government has done everything possible to end the stir. It’s ready to remove from the farm laws anything that farmers deem against their interests. Despite what transpired at the Red Fort on Republic Day, the government has avoided use of force.”A heavy police force was present at the venue to prevent any untoward incident. Surprisingly, the venue for holding the press conference was changed at the last moment by the organisers to prevent any faceoff. However, farmers in large numbers had already reached there to lodge the protest.In Ropar, BJP leaders, including Punjab unit vice-president Rajesh Bagha and Ropar district president Jatinder Singh Athwal, were shown black flags by farmers and CPM leaders when they came here to hold a press conference against the state government. On learning about the BJP leaders’ event, farmers led by CPM leaders Maha Singh Rodi and Gurdev Singh Baghi reached the spot holding black flags and started raising slogans against the saffron party demanding repeal of the three farm laws. A police team led by Ropar SHO Rajeev Kumar reached the spot to control the situation.Rodi said they needed an assurance from BJP leaders that they were also in favour of repealing the farm laws. Bagha and Athwal assured the protesters of conveying their demands to senior party leaders. Following this, the protesters allowed them to leave.Talking to mediapersons, Bagha alleged the Congress government had failed on all fronts in the past four years. He said Capt Amarinder Singh had made numerous promises to the people, including loan waiver for farmers, clearing pending amount against crop purchases, Rs 20,000 per acre compensation in case of losses due to natural calamity, 25 lakh jobs and smartphones. Nothing, however, was done to fulfil these, he said.

The Tribune

2021-03-26