Farmers Movement Archive

Ludhiana MP Bittu shouts slogans during President’s address

LUDHIANA/CHANDIGARH: Despite his party boycotting the Budget Session, Congress MP from Ludhiana Ravneet Singh ‘Bittu’ attended the first day of the budget session of Parliament for a few minutes and tried to disrupt President Ram Nath Kovind’s address by raising slogans in favour of the agitating farmers. AAP MP Bhagwant Mann alleged that the MPs from the opposition parties were not allowed to attend the budget session of Parliament. “If the opposition parties are not allowed inside the Parliament, then what is the use of leaving the old Parliament and wasting Rs 900 crore on new one?” he said. “There was a joint session in the Parliament and when four AAP MPs tried to enter the Central Hall, we were stopped. They wanted to let in only their favourite MPs who will applaud them, but we wanted to raise the issue of farmers. There was inhuman treatment meted out to them. We were pushed out by the marshals and we raised slogans there only. It is another blow to democracy. We wanted to go inside and confront them. They may take action against us but we will continue to raise the issue of the farmers,” Mann said in a video he shared on his social media accounts. Even Bittu uploaded a video on his Facebook page in which several MPs and ministers are seen sitting on their seats, listening to the President’s speech. Bittu is seen sitting in the video in the last row, recording the video along with his commentary. In the video, Bittu is heard saying, “All cabinet ministers, Prime Minister, home minister are sitting here, but I am sitting in this Parliament in the capacity of being chairman of one of the committees and I am speaking on behalf of all MPs from Punjab and also on behalf of crores of farmers of Punjab, Haryana, UP and all over India. It has been more than two months since our mothers, sisters are sitting alongside our farmers on roads demanding withdrawal of the farm bills. But this government is not ready to wake up from its ‘Kumbhkarni Neend.’ It is high time the government listens to them.” Immediately after this, Bittu started shouting during the President’s speech. He said, “Rashtrapati ji Lal Kile pe jo jhanda fehra ke aye hain hum unke khilaf hain, hum unko sar nahi uthane denge, par kisano ki sune, kisan jo baithe hain genuine kisan hai Rashtrapati ji. Wo Punjab ka kisan aapke sath hai, desh ke sath hai (We are totally against those who unfurled the flag at Lal Qila, we will not let them raise their heads at any cost but please listen to the farmers sitting on dharna. The farmers of Punjab are genuine and are always with you and the country).” After this, Bittu raised slogans of “Jai Jawan Jai Kisan,” “Teeno bill wapas lo,” “MSP guarantee karo.” He ended by saying that since the President was addressing the Parliament, he would not say more but “it was necessary to talk about farmers here.” Talking to TOI about the incident, Bittu said, “I am totally with the decision of the high command to boycott the session. I went to Parliament not to attend the session but only to make the voice of our farmers heard and to make BJP leaders realise their responsibility towards the farmers and take decision on repealing the three farm laws permanently.” He said that the opposition will not let Parliament run from February 1 until the issues of farmers are resolved. “Seventeen out of 19 parties boycotted the President's address. Don't they feel ashamed of themselves? How do they sleep at night? We will not let Parliament run from Monday onwards until the farmers' issues are resolved and they win,” he said. He added that he was in the process of identifying those who attacked him at an event at Singhu border and would then give a formal complaint to the police. “We are trying to identify more people from the video footage available in public domain,” he said. Meanwhile, Congress Rajya Sabha member from Punjab Partap Singh Bajwa visited Ghazipur border with his party colleague Deepinder Singh Hooda and former Union minister Jai Parkash.

The Times of India

2021-01-30

Ludhiana