Farmers Movement Archive

Khaps’ message in Hisar & Jind: Protest must go on

JIND/HISAR: Khaps (social clans) in Haryana’s Jind and Hisar districts continued to come in support of the farmers protest on Saturday, four days after the agitation had come under fire over violence during the January 26 tractor parade in Delhi. In Jind, 17 khaps organised a mahapanchayat (meeting) at Khatkar toll plaza on the Jind-Patiala highway to press the Centre for repealing three contentious laws. In Hisar, Satrol khap, during another mahapanchayat in Narnaund, decided to ban the entry of leaders of ruling BJP-JJP coalition in Haryana in its 42 villages and to also set up a camp at Tikri, one of the protest venues bordering Delhi. In the mahapanchayat at Khatkar, presided over by Khera khap president Satbir Pahalwal, khaps decided to remove flags of all political parties, begin a campaign for fixing kisan union and tricolour flags on houses in villages, and start a padyatra (march on foot) in support of the protest on February 7. They also warned the BJP-JJP state government of highway blockades if it continued to shut down internet services. Satrol khap, during the meeting in Narnaund’s Dada Devraj Park, said it had also kept 20 tractors and 1,000 people on standby in case help was needed at at any of the protest venues bordering Delhi. Thousands of people — men, women and khap leader — turned up for the mahapanchayat in Jind, held in the wake of a video which has gone viral in which a teary-eyed farm leader, Rakesh Tikait, says he would die but not let the agitation stop. Tikait is expected to reach Kandela village of Jind on February 3. sarvjatiya Daran, Khera, Majra, Thuwa, Deshwal, Chahal, Binain, Mor, Boora, Lohan, Baraha and Naugama are among the khaps which attended the Jind mahapanchayat. Satrol khap president Ramnivas Lohan said the government should cancel the three laws at the earliest and enact a new law guaranteeing MSP, otherwise it would have to suffer in future. In Jind, the state government also faced criticism for shutting down internet services in 17 districts.

The Times of India

2021-01-31

Chandigarh