Farmers Movement Archive

Farmers will pay tribute to those who died during agitation

Farmers protesting along the Delhi-Jaipur national highway against the new farm laws on Saturday said that they will pay tribute to fellow protesters, who have died during the agitation, on Sunday.Addressing a press conference from the protest site at Jaisinghpura-Khera village, near Shahajahanpur in Alwar of Rajasthan, farmer leaders criticised the country’s leaders over the laws and reiterated their demand for a rollback. They said that tribute meetings would be organised in villages and towns across the country on Sunday.“Lakhs of farmers are now on the streets surrounding Delhi amid the severe cold. They are braving the cold and other obstacles created by the government, as they are determined to achieve their goal. Their only demand is that the three anti-farmer laws should be revoked,” said a farmer leader, protesting under the banner of Samyukta Kisan Morcha.Farmers from Rajasthan, Gujarat, and Haryana have been protesting near the Haryana-Rajasthan border on the Delhi-Jaipur highway for the past seven days, after the Rewari police stopped them from proceeding towards Delhi.Farmers at the site said that the new laws will put them at the mercy of large corporations and end the minimum support price (MSP) that they receive for important crops.Sanjay Madhav, the state convener of the All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee in Rajasthan, said that meetings will be organised on Sunday to recognise the sacrifices made by farmers since the agitation started. “More farmers from Sikar, Sriganganagar and Hanumangarh from Rajasthan arrived today with their tractor-trolleys. We are getting support from all social classes, who are pitching in with food and other resources,” said Madhav.Farmers protesting at the site have also made arrangements for buses to ferry farmers in Rajasthan between their homes and protest sites, free of charge.Harvinder Singh, a farmer from Sri Ganganagar in Rajasthan, said, “The free bus service will start tomorrow, from Hanumangarh. With this facility, more farmers will be able to join us and manage errands at home too,” said Singh, who is a member of Grameen Kisan Mazdoor Samiti.He said that 25-30 tractors and trolleys from Sri Ganganagar district were not being allowed to reach the protest site by the Haryana Police.The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), meanwhile, said that farmers were being misled by opposition parties and they were creating false apprehensions among the people, which the party would clear by reaching out to them. “The Congress, during its rule, had entered into agreements with private companies to store grains and same policies were endorsed in its manifesto,” said Raman Malik, BJP spokesperson.

Hindustan Times

19-12-2020

Gurugram