Farmers Movement Archive

‘As if they are enemies...’: Harsimrat Kaur Badal slams barricading at farmer protest sites

Former Union minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal on Wednesday hit out at the Centre over the treatment of protesters and lack of facilities at farm laws protest sites at the borders of Delhi and questioned the government on security measures that were in place on Republic Day last week when the farmers’ tractor rally took a violent turn.The Shiromani Akali Dal leader pointed to the heavy police deployment and barricading at the national capital’s borders and also accused the government of depriving the protesting farmers of food, water, and electricity as if they were “enemies.” “Concrete, spikes, trenches, barbed wire, trucks, barricades & heavy deployment of police in anti riot gear- WHERE was all this when required on Jan 26? Today food water electricity have been cut off for those who ensure National Food Security, as if they are enemies of the state!,” Badal wrote on Twitter.Follow latest updates on farm stir here “The farmers have been protesting against the agricultural legislation for the past two and half months but the government is saying nothing on the issue. No discussion is taking place on this in the Parliament House…. Shocked at how the police at the borders have been weaponised as af Pakistanis are sitting and protesting here. They have turned the place into a fortress” she said in Hindi in a video posted on alongside the tweet.Concrete, spikes, trenches, barbed wire, trucks, barricades & heavy deployment of police in anti riot gear- WHERE was all this when required on Jan 26? Today food water electricity have been cut off for those who ensure National Food Security, as if they are enemies of the state! pic.twitter.com/P7ukuEb5wyBadal’s remarks come in the backdrop of multi-layered security at Ghazipur, Singhu, and Tikri borders as where farmers have been camping since November 26 demanding a repeal of three contentious farm laws cleared during the monsoon session of Parliament.This is not the first time that the Shiromani Akali Dal leader has made such comments. On Monday, Badal took a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s offer to farmers that the government is just a phone call away to discuss their issues. “Hundred people have died. For three months they have been sitting, literally, at the doorstep waiting to be heard. I am surprised he is still waiting for a phone call. The need of the hour was to listen after 11 rounds of talks and give them assurance that no more need to die... We are still talking about phone calls, it is very unfortunate,” the former food supplies minister had said.Badal had resigned from her post when the ‘anti-farmer bills’ were cleared by Parliament in September. In a tweet she had said, he quit “in protest against anti-farmer ordinances and legislation. Proud to stand with farmers as their daughter and sister”.

Hindustan Times

03-02-2021

India