Farmers Movement Archive

Farmers refuse to allow Badal village protester’s last rites, demand relief, loan waiver

A day after a protester, Pritam Singh, 65, died after consuming pesticide at the native village of the Badals in Muktsar district, farm union leaders on Saturday said they would allow the last rites only after his family was compensated with Rs 3 lakh, a government job and loan waiver. Pritam Singh, a resident of Akanwali village in Mansa, consumed the pesticide during the protest outside the house of former chief minister and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) patriarch Parkash Singh Badal on Friday morning. He was rushed to a private hospital in Bathinda, where he died in the evening. The protesters were demanding the revocation of the three farm bills passed in the Lok Sabha earlier this week. Bhartiya Kisan Union (Ekta-Ugrahana) state secretary Shingara Singh Mann demanded that a state government representative visit the protest site and announce the compensation to Pritam Singh’s family. “The body is in a mortuary in Bathinda and we will not let the post-mortem examination till the demands are met,” Mann said. The farmers decided to extend the round-the-clock dharna outside the residence of the Badals till September 25. The protest that started on Tuesday was to end on Sunday.‘BADALS SHOULD SNAP TIES WITH BJP’ With the number of protesters swelling at the site, Badal was shifted to his farmhouse at Balasar in Sirsa district of neighbouring Haryana. His son and SAD member of Parliament Sukhbir Singh Badal is in Delhi to attend the Lok Sabha proceedings along with his wife Harsimrat Kaur, who resigned from the Narendra Modi cabinet after the passage of the bills on Thursday. Union general secretary Sukhdev Singh Kokri said, “Instead of shedding crocodile tears now, if the SAD terms itself a party of and for the farmers, it should snap ties with the BJP.” “Harsimrat’s resignation from the cabinet is a political drama. The SAD leadership has been exposed. She was forced to quit because of the anger among farmers. The Badal family has played with the sentiments of farmers. Being a part of the Modi government, Harsimrat had been saying that the bills are pro-farmer. She did not raise any objection,” Mann said. ALL EYES ON MOGA MEET Meanwhile, representatives of Left-leaning and farmer associations are meeting in Moga on Saturday to form a common platform to oppose the bills. Jagmohan Singh Patiala, the working committee member of the All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee (AIKSCC), said efforts are being made to bring 25 farm associations of Punjab under one umbrella for a long-drawn fight against the BJP-led Centre’s move. “We should sink political differences in farmers’ interests. After Harsimrat quit, all political and farmers’ fronts, except the BJP, have stood against the new agricultural rules. We hope for a positive outcome,” said Jagmohan, a Left ideologue. Farm rights activist Ajmer Singh Lakhowal said pro-farmer organisations had contacted him to form a common platform to fight for the agrarian community. “Our five-member committee will meet representatives of the Left-leaning farmer fronts in Moga. Delegates will discuss the next plan to pursue a joint agitation to oppose the three bills,” said Lakhowal, who decided to stay away from Saturday’s meeting due to his medical condition. Meanwhile, Covid-19 guidelines are not being followed at the protest site as farmer leaders and protesters can be seen without masks and ignoring social distancing norms.

Hindustan Times

19-09-2020

Chandigarh