Farmers Movement Archive

Protest against farm bills: Cong MLA fries pakoras, makes tea for supporters

Ludhiana: Several Congress MLAs from the city on Monday organised protests against the central government’s farming bill. Meanwhile, opposition BJP has demanded that the Congress MLAs and their supporters should be booked under disaster management act for flouting social distancing norms during the protests. The most interesting protest was held by the MLA from Gill constituency, Kuldeep Singh Vaid, who fried pakoras and made tea for his supporters and protesters during the protest. Speaking about the protest, Vaid said, “We got big public support to our protest in Gill constituency as people participated in large numbers. During the agitation we fried pakoras and sold tea as Prime Minister Narendra Modi has left every citizen of the country only with these two tasks and nothing else, because whether it was business or jobs or farming, everything has been destroyed by the BJP government. It has become a common phenomenon for the saffron party to crush people’s voice like this and forcibly impose their will on the public. But now people have woken up and the farm bills will prove to be the last nail in the coffins of the BJP and it is matter of days that this government will be uprooted from the Centre.” MLA Surinder Dawar who staged a protest in centre constituency said, “By passing the anti-farmer bills, BJP’s real face has been unmasked in front of the farmers, whom the party has been projecting to be their biggest well wisher. Huge protests have erupted all over India even amid coronavirus and I think the BJP should now realise that it has committed a blunder and party’s days are outnumbered. The Congress will keep up with the agitations all over Ludhiana and in Punjab till the time these anti-farmer bills are withdrawn by the Centre.” Meanwhile, the protests which took place on Monday have given ammunition to the opposition party BJP to attack the Congress. Speaking to TOI, district BJP president Pushpinder Singhal said, “These agitations of the Congress were nothing but big drama and only their supporters participated in these. There was no member of the public among them since everyone knows that the bills are for the welfare of the farmers whose suffering will now end due to these decisions taken by the Centre. As far as Congress is concerned, it’s the party which has become private property of one family and their leaders are left with no issue at all as they are free for the past six years and will remain so for decades.” Singhal added that, “During the agitations a large number of Congress leaders and workers had a free run and no social distancing norms were followed. At so many places many Congress men gathered and openly flouted the norms by having large gatherings. We dare the administration and police to show impartial attitude and book those who violated the rules and lodge an FIR against them under same sections as it was done against the opposition during their protests, which were held by following complete Covid norms.”

The Times of India

2020-09-22

Ludhiana