Farmers Movement Archive

Cong backs farmers’ chakka jam, to stage tractor rallies

Ranchi: The state unit of the Congress on Thursday extended its support to the February 6 nationwide ‘chakka jam’ called by various farmer unions. It also announced to hold a state-level tractor rally in Hazaribag this month to demand the repeal of the new farm laws passed by the Centre. The state in-charge of the party, RPN Singh, is expected to attend the tractor rally, Congress sources said. The state president of the Congress, Rameshwar Oraon, who convened a meeting of party MLAs and office bearers in this regard on Thursday, said: “We will hold a state-level mega tractor rally in Hazaribag on February 20. This will be bigger than the Godda-Deoghar rally held recently. There will be no let up of pressure on the Union government till it withdraws the contentious laws.” State agriculture minister and Jarmundi MLA Badal Patralekh has been made the coordinator of the rally. Notably, Patralekh met BKU leader Rakesh Tikait at the Ghazipur border on Tuesday night to extend his moral support to their protest. Party spokesperson Alok Dubey said as a prelude to the state-level rally, a series of programmes has been planned across Jharkhand. “On February 10, a farmers’ convention will be held at the block level. On February 12, the state party president will interact with netizens on the social media. The following day, we will hold 10km-long padyatras in all district headquarters,” said Dubey, adding that the party was also supporting the nationwide ‘chakka jam’ on February 6. “On February 6, we will hit the streets across the state to block state and national highways,” he added. Another party leader, Lal Kishorenath Shahdeo, said Congress was also exploring options to hold a rally in Ranchi and other districts. Notably, JMM and RJD, the other parties in the ruling coalition, have not formally announced their stance regarding the February 6 ‘chakka jam’ call, even though both the parties were opposing the farm laws. Meanwhile, opposition BJP accused the state government of having ‘double standards’. It said though the state government is opposed to the farm laws, it scrapped the Mukhyamantri Krishi Ashirwad Yojana scheme of the previous BJP-led dispensation that ensured steady financial assistance to poor and marginal farmers.

The Times of India

2021-02-05

Ranchi