Farmers Movement Archive

‘Bharat Bandh won’t stop for Holi’

BATHINDA: Despite the reservations of a few trade and transport unions against scheduling a Bharat Bandh two days before Holi, the Sanyukta Kisan Morcha will not only go ahead with it on March 26 but also extend it from four hours to the “entire day (6am to 6pm)”. The decision came in the SKM’s meeting with the trade unions, traders, arhtiyas, worker and farmer unions, transporters, and the associations of teachers, youth, and students at Delhi’s Singhu border on Wednesday. They’ll burn the copies of the three new farm laws during Holika Dahan on March 28. The morcha will also use the 90th martyrdom day of Shaheed Bhagat Singh, Rajguru, and Sukhdev on March 23 to spur a youth march to the Delhi borders from the birthplace of Shaheed Bhagat Singh at Khatkar Kalan. Darshan Pal of the SKM said the morcha had called upon the Punjabi farmers not to provide or upload their land records for the Food Corporation of India’s direct payment into their accounts. He said: “The FCI wants to buy just wheat based on land record, which farmers oppose. If the FCI forces the farmers to upload record, the morcha will take some hard steps. A similar call will be given to the farmers of Haryana when we are sure about the response. Punjab’s farmers have promised to support the plan.” Three ‘Shaheed Yadgar Kisan Mazdoor Padyatras’ (foot marches) will start from Punjab, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh between March 18 and 23. One of those will start on March 18 from Hisar in Haryana and reach the farmers’ protest site on Delhi’s Tikri border. Another will start from Khatkar Kalan and reach the Singhu border via Panipat. The third will be from Mathura in UP to Palwal in Haryana. A 400-kilometre foot march in Karnataka will reach Bellari on March 23 with the soil collected from the villages en route, and then bring that to the Singhu Border on April 6, where a memorial is planned for those who died in the agitation.

The Times of India

2021-03-18

Amritsar