Farmers Movement Archive

Farmers OK with PM-Kisan benefit, but against 3 laws

BATHINDA: Even as a farmer organisation initiated a digital campaign #FarmersNotOnSale against the central government for depositing money under the PM-Kisan Samman Nidhi direct transfer scheme at a time when the farmers’ agitation is on at full swing, many peasants who received the amount in their accounts were alright with it, but continued to oppose the government. The logic they offered was that the government had started the scheme long back and it was their right to get the money, but it would not stop them from opposing the new farm laws. Many of the farmers got the message of the Rs 2,000 transfer while staging protests but kept on raising slogans against the government and the Prime Minister. Farm organisation BKU Ekta Ugrahan started a campaign on its social media platforms accusing the central government of trying to win over farmers by paying money from PM-Kisan while they are agitating against the agri-laws. Farmer Hakam Singh, 55, of Thikriwal village said, "We are deadly against the central government for the agri-laws. We are coming to protest against these three laws every day, but if the government has provided some financial help through a scheme, we don’t feel bad in accepting it. But I am making it clear that we are not going to support the government." Farmer Baljit Singh, 70, of Chuhanke village in Barnala said they will avail the benefit of the government scheme and raise their voices against the government for enacting the laws. Sitting at Barnala Railway Station protest, farmer Karnail Singh, 52, of Sehajara village said the farmers were against the central government which wanted to crush small farmers like him through these laws. He said if the Centre has a scheme to benefit small farmers they saw nothing wrong in getting money. Darshan Singh 51, of Thikriwal, said farmers from Punjab are fighting a do-or-die battle against the central government. “The government may be thinking of winning over farmers by paying small amounts of money, but it is badly mistaken. We will continue to protest, yet we will not leave our right on the transferred money,” he added.

The Times of India

2020-12-26

Amritsar