Farmers Movement Archive

Women protesters burn IMF effigy

Bathinda: Hundreds of women staged a protest against the Narendra Modi government on Women Farmer’s Day at Tikri border on Monday. The protesters, who belonged to Punjab, Haryana, Bihar, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, also burned the IMF-WTO effigy. Punjab Kisan Union leader Jasbir Kaur Nat, National general secretary of All India Progressive Women’s Association (AIPWA), Meena Tewari, AIPWA national executive committee member Prof Sudha Chaudhary, Geeta Kumari from Haryana, Trade Union leader Lekha Aduvi from Karnataka and Punjabi theatre artist Anita Shabdish addressed the gathering. They said that when the Prime Minister of Canada advised the Modi government to comply with farmers’ demands, the government termed it as illegal interference in the internal affairs of the country. While the government is very happy with the open support of external organisations, even slight criticism is not acceptable to it, they said. The women farmers also warned the IMF, WTO and World Bank to stop interfering in the internal policy affairs of India, failing which their offices would be cordoned off. The protesting women warned that if the Modi government did not repeal the pro-corporate farming laws soon, women from across the country would launch a campaign to expose the BJP by reaching out to every household through demonstrations.

The Times of India

2021-01-19

Chandigarh