Farmers Movement Archive

With Chandigarh’s 1st mahapanchayat, Pawadh says nay to farm laws

CHANDIGARH: The loudest applause at the kisan mahapanchayat organised in Chandigarh on Saturday was reserved for farm unionist Gurnam Singh Charuni as he took the stage at the rally ground in Sector 25 and thanked the people of the city for the outpouring of support to the ongoing farmers protest against three contentious agro-market laws. This was, so far, the biggest protest in Chandigarh against the farm laws. “This is a city of educated people who understand the laws and many of them, in spite of not being farmers, have come in our support and I thank you for that,” said Charuni, who is the president of Bhartiya Kisan Union (Haryana). Apart from Charuni and fellow unionists Joginder Singh Ugrahan of BKU (Ekta Ugrahan) and Mansa Singh Ruldu of Punjab Kisan Union, a plethora of activist groups lent support to the protest. Actor Sonia Mann too spoke from the stage. Many speakers, including Pendu Sangharsh Committee, Chandigarh, patron Baba Sadhu Singh Sarangpur, applauded the unity shown by people from Pawadh, a first for the historic Punjab region which had been divided by the creation of Chandigarh and then the trifurcation of Punjab. Though people from Ambala, Ropar, Mohali, Fatehgarh Sahib, and Panchkula attended the mahapanchayat and came in tractors, cars and even on scooters, the turnout was not on expected lines. While organisers were hoping for a turnout of nearly one lakh people, it attracted a crowd of 5,000-10,000 people. Jai Singh Jalbera, the father of farm activist Navdeep Singh who had turned off a water cannon during the farmers’ march to Delhi in November, spoke in the Pawadhi dialect — a mix of Punjab, Hindi and Haryanavi — from the stage. Police had been deployed to keep a check on any untoward incident and the mahapanchayat went on peacefully, with the sitters often raising slogans against the Centre, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and three laws which have triggered widespread protests. Charuni also hit out at a famous yoga teacher who has now opened a company. “He is not a baba, as he claims to be, but a businessman,” he said.

The Times of India

2021-02-21

Chandigarh