Farmers Movement Archive

In Punjab and Haryana, farmers’ ‘black day’ stir across villages, cities, towns

CHANDIGARH: Farm unions, farmers, and groups and people supporting the ongoing agitation against the three agro-market laws passed by the Centre last year, staged protests across all districts of Punjab and Haryana on Wednesday. Sanyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), a grouping of farm unions which is spearheading the agitation, had given a call to supporters to stage the protests as part of observing ‘black day’, a name given to the six-month anniversary of protests on the borders of Delhi. In Punjab, farm body Kirti Kisan Union took out tractor processions at Sadiq, Jaito, Kotkapura, Moga, Baghapurana, Dharmkot, Ajnala, Nawanshahr, Behram, Gurdaspur, Samana, Patran, Kapurthala, Muktsar, Gidderbaha, Majitha and Ajnala, said union president Nirbhay Singh Dhudike. Farmers under Krantikari Kissan Union and other factions took out a protest march in Patiala city, whereas unions burnt effigies in villages of Patiala, Sangrur and Fatehgarh Sahib districts. BKU (Ekta Ugrahan) and BKU (Ekta Dakaunda) held protests at over 200 places in the state. “The central government must read the writing on the wall. Farmers will wait for any number of months for this, even while facing the Covid pandemic,” said farm leaders Darshan Pal and Joginder Singh Ugrahan. Rattan Singh Randhawa, a leader of Zamhuri Kisan Sabha, said they burnt effigies at 172 places, while Kisan Mazdur Sangarash Committee leader Gurbachan Singh Chaba said they protested at 321 places. At the protest sites of Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur borders, effigies of PM Narendra Modi-led government were burnt, and black flags hoisted on trolleys and tents. In Haryana’s Sirsa district, there were skirmishes between farmers and police as the former broke barricades near deputy chief minister Dushyant Chautala’s house and burnt his effigy as cops tried to stop them. There was no major incident of violence as farmers returned peacefully after burning the effigy. In other parts of Haryana, protests were staged in Karnal, Panipat, Sirsa, Hisar, Fatehabad and many more disricts. In Jind district, people burnt effigies of the PM and staged protests in Ramkali, Gatauli, Garwali, Julana, Jalalpur Kalan, Karsindhu, Makhand and many other palcess. Farmers in large numbers also reached the toll plazas at Khatkar and Baddowal to burn the effigies of PM Modi, Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar, Dushyant, and BJP MPs Ramesh Kaushik from Sonipat, Sunita Duggal from Sirsa and Brijendra Singh from Hisar, said Azad Singh Palwa, Jind BKU head. Bharatiya Kisan Union (Charuni) held protests in Ambala, Kurukshetra and Yamunanagar districts. Political parties Congress, Aam Aadmi Party and Indian National Lok Dal also extended support to the protest call. In Ambala, farmers protested at Shambhu and Saini Majra toll plazas. In Kurukshetra, protests were held in Pehowa, Ismailabad, Shahabad and Thanesar. In Yamunanagar, farmer held a protest at Gadholi-Gadholi toll plaza on national highway (NH)-344. BKU (Charuni) Haryana president Gurnam Singh Charuni said, “Protests remained peaceful in all villages, blocks and districts of Haryana state and we have not received any report of untoward incident.” Women gathered at main chowk in Makhand village of Uchana town, represented by Dushyant, and made an announcements asking people to step out from their homes. The ‘black day’ protests come close on the heels of SKM writing a letter to the PM on May 21, asking him to resume talks. Farmers had asked for a reply to the letter by May 25, saying that they would otherwise intensify protests. However, the Centre is yet to respond. 'Enthusiasm fizzling out in Majha In Majha, enthusiasm to observe May 26 as Black Day was visible among farm unions and their leaders, but it seemed to be on the wane among regular farmers, most of whom felt the six-month-old agitation had started to fizzle out in the wake of the Centre’s apathy to farmers. In most villages, there were groups of just a handful of farmers with black flags on their hands and vehicles, mostly two-wheelers, raising slogans against the PM Narendra Modi-led central government and waiting for media to cover their agitation. Charan Singh, who owns 2.5 acres, said farm leaders saw a political future for themselves in the agitation, but the protest had given nothing to farmers like him. "How many times do I have to travel to Delhi, stay there, and return empty-handed with pressure to travel once again to Delhi?" said Charan. Balkar Singh, who owns four acres and a Verka milk booth on Loharka Road in Amritsar, said, "The level of energy in our agitation which was six months ago has now fizzled out because the Centre has not promised anything. We have not been able to generate enough pressure on the government." However, he said, he had put up a black flag on his house to honour his friends who were leading the agitation. A farm leader who didn’t wish to give his name admitted to earlier sending a jatha of over 400 people to Delhi every 10 days, but now he could hardly mobilise 70 people to travel to Delhi and that too by train. ‘Funeral’ of central govt in Karnal village Farmers in Karnal’s Bansa village carried out a mock funeral procession of the central government and performed its mock last rites at the village’s cremation ground. They raised black flags atop their houses too. Political parties back SKM too Congress MLA Kuldeep Bishnoi hoisted black flags at his Adampur and Hisar residences. Former MP Ashok Tanwar also supported the Black Day against agricultural laws. In Fatehabad, Congress women district president Krishna Poonia hoisted a black flag at her house and demanded that the government restart a dialogue with the protesting farmers. In Chandigarh, AAP observed ‘Black Day’ by carrying black flags and protesting in front of the Punjab governor’s residence. Led by party MLAs Kultar Singh Sandhwan and Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer, the party workers raised slogans in favour of the farmers’ rights and against the central government; demanding repeal of the three farm laws. Nationwide response: SKM SKM said protests had been reported in Chamarajanagar, Mysuru, Ramanagara, Belagavi, Dharwad, Bangalore in Karnataka; Kurnool, Anantapur, Visakhapatnam, Krishna district in Andhra Pradesh; Amravati, Nanded, Nandurbar, Nagpur, Sangli, Parbhani, Thane, Beed, Sholapur, Buldanha, Kolhapur, Aurangabad, Satara, Palghar, Jalgaon, Nashik, Mumbai in Maharashtra; Begusarai, Vaishali, Purnea, West Champaran, Madhubani, Darbhanga, Sitamarhi, Siwan, Jehanabad, Ara, Bhojpur, Patna in Bihar; Bareilly, Sitapur, Benaras, Baliyan, Mathura in Uttar Pradesh; Sivaganga, Dharmapuri, Tanjore, Tirunelveli, Coimbatore, Karur, Chennai in Tamil Nadu; Jhunjhunu, Bharatpur, Ganganagar, Hanumangarh and many other places in Rajasthan; some places in Himachal Pradesh and Terai region of Uttarakhand; Rayagada in Odisha; Kolkata in West Bengal; Anantnag in Jammu & Kashmir; in Tripura; and Assam; and in all the 22 districts each in Punjab and Haryana. (With inputs from Bathinda, Amritsar, Jind, Karnal, Hisar, Chandigarh, and Patiala)

The Times of India

2021-05-27

Chandigarh