Farmers Movement Archive

Mullanpur Dakha: Congress tries to outdo SAD in mobilising crowds

LUDHIANA: Mullanpur Dakha turned out to be battleground of rallies on Wednesday as Congress and SAD both tried to outdo each other by mobilising huge crowds for tractor rally against the farm Bills passed by the Centre. In an effort to score over present SAD MLA Manpreet Ayali, Congress leader Captain Sandeep Sandhu organised the rally the same day and two hours before Ayali’s rally. Even after Sandhu gave a call for the rally on Tuesday night after Ayali’s announcement, huge crowds of party workers, farmers and villagers turned up at Sandhu’s rally. Though there is no clarity whether or not rally of any party had any permission from authorities but incidents of violations of social distancing were quite visible in Sandhu’s rally as well. The rally which started from Mullanpur ground near a dargah started at 8am and continued till afternoon as it passed through several villages of Mullanpur-Dakha constituency. In order to keep the enthusiasm of his workers and farmers on a high , Sandhu himself drove a tractor and at several spots he interacted with the villagers from where his cavalcade passed. Addressing the crowds, he said, “This is a very small contribution from our side in the campaign against the atrocities of the Centre against the poor farmers and farm workers. This is just the start and we have to ensure that we get our voice heard till Delhi. Our chief minister Amarinder Singh has already said that we will do anything to ensure that these Bills are rolled back.” Sandhu added, “Both SAD and BJP are trying to kill farmers who have been serving the nation for more than 50 years. SAD also must answer on its double standards and stop playing sacrifice card. If they were so serious and concerned about interests of farmers, then why in the first place they signed the farm ordinances and now their Union minister has resigned from the cabinet. SAD has been fully exposed in front of the Punjabis and the party has now lost the little bit of ground it was left with.”

The Times of India

2020-09-24

Ludhiana