Farmers Movement Archive

‘Youth need to be disciplined, singers to be kept away from stir stages’

Amritsar: Having burnt fingers from the turnout of events during the January 26 tractor rally, farm bodies protesting on the borders of Delhi have decided to tame the youth and not let them act whimsically. They have also decided to keep singers at bay. “We have learnt our lessons and will not repeat mistakes committed by us again for the success of our agitation,” said the president of Sikh Sangathan, Uttrakhand and UP, Jasvir Singh Virk while talking to TOI from Delhi-UP border at Ghazipur on Friday. He said a few farm bodies had held a meeting and decided to discipline youth and keep singers away from stages. He said youth didn’t listen to them. “A few miscreants had misled youth and taken them towards Red Fort against our advice. We are apologetic for the same. A few things have slipped out of our hands. In future, we will not let these things repeat,” he said. He said they would ask youth to follow their directions or would talk to their parents and ask them to take them back to their villages. He said they had talked to like-minded farmer bodies and decided to not let singers address from stages. “We also told Deep Sidhu to not provoke gullible farmers, but he didn’t listen to us,” he said. Rattan Singh of Zamhuri Kisan Sabha said singers were not the role models for youth in any shape, so they had decided to not let them speak. Expressing faith in the leadership of Rakesh Tikait, Virk said three-four farm groups had siding with the government right from day one. He claimed that they knew beforehand that farm groups — including V M Singh-led Rashtriya Kisan Mazdoor Sangathan and Bhartiya Kisan Union (Bhanu) — would withdraw from the struggle.

The Times of India

2021-01-30

Chandigarh