Farmers Movement Archive

Terai farmers gherao state edu minister’s residence, burn effigies of PM

Rudrapur: The farmers of Terai region who have been protesting against the Centre’s three farm laws gheraoed the residence of state education minister Arvind Pandey in Gularbhoj, Udham Singh Nagar district, on Thursday and burnt effigies of him and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The incident took place during a tractor rally organised by the farmers, seeking withdrawal of the contentious agri laws and a legal guarantee for the minimum support price. The rally was joined by leaders and workers of various non-BJP political parties. This came after Pandey had gone to Delhi last month with some farmers to meet Union agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar to express support for the agri laws. Ever since then, Pandey has been facing flak from the farmers and was also shown black flags in his constituency twice. On Thursday morning, hundreds of farmers assembled at Gurudwara Dineshpur and took out a rally with a large number of tractors. The angry farmers raised slogans against Pandey and sought his resignation for “betraying farmers’ interests”. Senior Congress leader Shilpi Arora said her party has joined farmers' fight against the “anti-farmer laws” amended by the central government, adding that party volunteers will participate in each protest. However, the security was beefed up at Pandey's residence and police personnel deputed there did not allow farmers to enter the minister's residence.

The Times of India

2021-01-15

Dehradun