Farmers Movement Archive

Rift over Parliament march date deepens

BATHINDA: Differences came to fore among farm groups from Punjab and 40 organisations that are part of Sanyukt Kisan Morcha during back-to-back meetings, which continued till Friday evening. The bone of contention was the date for the proposed march to Parliament. While a few organisations wanted to proceed with the march, others wanted to wait till the Covid situation normalised. Heated exchanges were witnessed during the meeting of Punjab organisations and then in the Sanyukt Kisan Morcha meeting. Sources said a farm leader was made to tender an apology for trying to “force his viewpoint in the proceedings.” In a press release issued on April 19, Sanyukt Kisan Morcha had hinted at cancellation of the march. Farm leaders Ashish Mittal and Yogendra Yadav claimed that the plan had not been shelved but put on hold. On the other hand, BKU chief Gurnam Singh Charuni said it seemed that the proposal had been cancelled. A few youths also allegedly tried to heckle farm organisation BKU (Ekta Ugrahan) president Joginder Singh Ugrahan, who was gheraoed while he was sitting in the car outside the temporary office of the Sanyukt Kisan Morcha at Singhu border. An angry Ugrahan recounted the incident on Saturday afternoon while addressing a large gathering at Bahadurgarh’s Pakora Chowk. Ugrahan blamed supporters of Deep Sidhu, Lakha Sidhana and farm leader Surjit Singh Phool for the incident. “Certain forces wanted to forcibly make farm groups announce the date for march towards Parliament to which many farm organisations did not agree going by the past experience of January 26,” Ugrahan said. He added, “even the taunt was flung that farmer leaders have gone weak and lost the courage to take on the Central government but it was decided by voice vote that the present situation was not conducive for the march, especially when the forces behind happenings of January 26 are not held fully accountable and there is no surety that such happenings will not be repeated.” Ugrahan said, “some forces getting money from foreign countries want the struggle to go as per their whims and fancies but this would weaken the movement and we have announced that we will not toe the line.” The youths tried to persuade BKU (Dakaunda) president Buta Singh Burjgill, vice-president Manjit Singh Dhaner and Punjab Kisan Union president Ruldu Singh Mansa to announce the date for the march, said Ugrahan. When contacted, Dhaner said that some issues had come to fore but not much could be elaborated on what happened.

The Times of India

2021-04-25

Chandigarh