Farmers Movement Archive

Farmer unions say protests will continue, reject SC panel report

Rejecting the Supreme Court-appointed committee’s report even before it has been made public, Samyukta Kisan Morcha and BKU (Ekta-Ugrahan) leaders said they will not wait for any decision of the top court as expected on April 5. They said they will intensify their agitation against the three farm laws by holding protests in Delhi and Punjab on the harvest festival of Baisakhi on April 13 and the birth anniversary of BR Ambedkar, the architect of the Constitution, on April 14 besides marching to Parliament in May. Farmers also plan to block the KMP Expressway in Haryana for 24 hours on April 10. The Supreme Court panel, comprising farm economists Anil Ghanwat, Ashok Gulati and Pramod Kumar Joshi, submitted its report to the top court recently. Bhupinder Singh Mann, a Bhartiya Kisan Union leader, who was also initially a part of the committee, resigned from the panel. No hope from committee: Rajewal “We have already rejected this committee and are not aware about its report. Farmers have no hope from the members of this committee as the three laws have been made on their recommendations. They have expressed their point of view by writing articles in newspapers in favour of these laws,” said Balbir Singh Rajewal, the chief of the BKU’s Rajewal faction. He is a senior leader of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha, an umbrella body of 32 farmers groups. “We are not concerned about the report of the SC panel and its hearing. We will continue our agitation,” he said. Will continue protests for repeal: Ugrahan BKU (Ekta-Ugrahan) state chief Joginder Singh Ugrahan said that the farmers had rejected the committee and the government could not impose its report or any court verdict on farmer unions. “I have no faith in this committee. When we didn’t accept it, why should we consider its recommendations?” he said. The chief of one of the biggest farmer outfits in Punjab that is leading the protest at Delhi’s Tikri border, toll plazas and outside houses of BJP leaders in the state, Ugrahan said, “We will continue protests until the anti-farmer laws are repealed.” Ugrahan, who is recovering from Covid-19, said that he will address farmers at Tikri border on April 5 and also take part in the KMP Expressway dharna on April 10.

Hindustan Times

01-04-2021

Chandigarh