Farmers Movement Archive

CM Khattar oblivious to reality, say Haryana farmer leaders

Gurgaon: As chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar and his cabinet colleagues claimed on Saturday the presence of farmers from Haryana was almost negligible in the Delhi agitation, farmers’ groups in the state said they would intensify their protest and highlight the “ground reality” for the CM. “CM Khattar is oblivious to the ground reality. By making these statements, he is only distancing farmers further from the government. There have been months of protests and tens of thousands of farmers from the state have actively led the kisan andolan,” said Avik Saha, secretary of the All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee. Citing the CM’s statement, farmers’ bodies have asked Khattar to explain the midnight arrests of farmer leaders, police action against farmers over the past few months, and sit-in protests of thousands of farmers at various border points like Kundli. They claimed units 500 to 1,000 farmers each from districts like Hisar, Sirsa, Karnal, Yamunanagar, Ambala, Bhiwani, Jind, Jhajjar, Rewari and Fatehabad, among others, had marched towards Delhi in the past two days and more are joining. “There’s nothing that we expect from the CM. First, he directs police to raid houses of farmers and pick them two days ahead of the Dilli Chalo agitation. Then he deploys force and asks them to use water cannons and tear gas shelling and dig trenches to stop us from marching,” said Rattan Mann, state president of the Bhartiya Kisan Union.

The Times of India

2020-11-29

Gurgaon