Farmers Movement Archive

Political parties jump in to support SC community ‘bandh’ call; commuters harassed in Ludhiana

Commuters were stuck in serpentine queues on Saturday as national highways were blocked at different points for over an hour amid the Punjab bandh called by members of the Scheduled Caste (SC) community. They were protesting against the Hathras gangrape in Uttar Pradesh and alleged multi-crore postmatric SC scholarship scam. Different political parties also joined the protest in support of the SC community to gain political mileage. Commuters were left a harried lot as gridlocks were witnessed on National Highway-44 and adjoining roads. The movement of vehicles coming from Chandigarh and Delhi were also disturbed at Samrala Chowk. Heavy traffic was also seen at Transport Nagar Road despite police creating diversions. While Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) staged protests at Samrala Chowk and Jalandhar Bypass Chowk against the SC scholarship scam, Lok Insaaf Party (LIP) blocked the National Highway-44 near Green Land School. Social distancing norms went for a toss and many protesters were not even wearing masks.Raj Kumar Atwal, Punjab president, BJP SC Morcha, also participated in the protests. Atwal slammed the state government and chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh for not taking action against minister Sadhu Singh Dharamsot who had allegedly embezzled Rs 64 crore meant for SC post matric scholarship. He added that they will continue agitations against the state government and the public will teach Congress a lesson in the 2022 legislative assembly elections. Simarjeet Singh Bains, president of LIP, said that the party will continue to fight against injustices being faced by the SC community. Meanwhile, commuters said that protests by political parties should not result in harassment for the public.One of the commuters, Arshdeep Singh, said that protests should be staged against injustices, but the public should not be inconvenienced in the process. He added that the government should take strict action against the protesters for blocking roads and not following Covid safety guidelines. Hathras case: SAD leaders join protest against UP govt Ludhiana After the party high command snapped ties with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over farm bills, leaders of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) have now joined a Dalit organisation in its protest against the Uttar Pradesh’s government over the ‘gang-rape’ and murder of a young woman in Hathras. Members of Bhartiya Valmiki Dharam Samaj on Saturday morning staged a protest at the Clock Tower, demanding capital punishment for the culprits during the ‘Punjab Bandh’ call proposed by the organisation. Shops in Chaura Bazar remained closed till afternoon, but rest of the city was open.Vijay Danav, Shiromani Akali Dal leader and head of Bhartiya Valmiki Dharam Samaj, while addressing the protesters, alleged that the Uttar Pradesh government had failed in saving girls and women. The agitation was also attended by former cabinet minister and adviser to former chief minister (CM) Parkash Singh Badal, Mahesh Inder Singh Grewal, besides Kuldeep Singh Khalsa, former Lok Sabha deputy speaker Charanjit Singh Atwal and Youth Akali Dal district president Gurdeep Singh Gosha, along with other Akali leaders. The protest continued till 2pm. The flow of traffic was disrupted near the protest site, which left the commuters a harried lot. Heavy police force was deployed in the market to avoid any untoward situation. Several other organisations, meanwhile, also staged protests in different areas of the city.

Hindustan Times

10-10-2020

City