Farmers Movement Archive

Trade unions hold rally to seek support for ‘Bharat bandh’

Ludhiana, March 25The joint action committee (JAC) of trade unions INTUC, AITUC and CITU on Thursday held a rally soliciting support of the locals for making the ‘Bharat bandh’ successful in Ludhiana on Friday.The Samyukta Kisan Morcha, a coalition of farmers’ unions, supported by 10 Central trade unions, has given a call for a nationwide strike on March 26.Holding a rally at the Bharat Nagar chowk here, trade union leaders Swaran Singh, Ramesh Rattan, JP Singh, Sarabjit Singh, Vijay Kumar, Ram Lal, MS Bhatia, Gurjeet Singh, Baldev Moudgil, SK Tiwari, Vinod Kumar, Manpreet Singh, Arjun Prasad, Prakash Singh, Feroz, Mahipal, Giassudin Sama, Kamaljit Singh, Soni Devi, and Ajay appealed to the people to make ‘Bharat bandh’ a success. The bandh will be observed for the entire day tomorrow, from 6 am till 6 pm.Addressing the rally, the trade union leaders said a large number of protesting farmers from Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and other parts of the country have been staging a dharna at Delhi borders at Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur, demanding repeal of the farm laws and a legal guarantee that the minimum support price (MSP) will continue for the past four months but the Centre is still unmoved.Appealing to the residents to make tomorrow’s strike call a success, the leaders said the bandh was observed to coincide with a day when the farmers’ protest would reach the fourth month.They made it clear that the bandh would remain peaceful and effective from morning till evening.The trade unions, in association with the farmers’ unions, have assigned their office-bearers and cadres present here to coordinate and ensure that the bandh remains successful.Commuters to sufferThe union leaders said all commercial establishments would remain closed and no road and rail traffic would be allowed to ply during the strike being observed from 6 am to 6 pm.On March 28, during ‘Holika Dahan’, the unions have given a call to burn the copies of the contentious farm laws.

The Tribune

2021-03-26