Farmers Movement Archive

Farmers free to take jabs but no ‘forced testing’: Charuni

Ambala: Bharatiya Kisan Union (Charuni) state president Gurnam Singh Charuni has said here on Sunday that while he won’t stop farmers from taking jabs against Covid, he will "resist their forcible vaccination and testing". Charuni, who spearheads Sanyukta Kisan Morcha’s agitation against the three farm laws, made this statement at an event of Sarv Samaj Jagriti Manch in Ambala City. He alleged that: "In the name of testing, the government wants to clear the protest sites. The Sonipat officials planned it in a meeting." Reminded of the pandemic situation, he said: "In our months of sitting on the Delhi borders, we have lost not a single farmer to Covid. The government should look into the election rallies in other states. Why are those being allowed?" Asked why the march to Parliament was called off, Charuni said: "To avoid any vilification of the farmers and their protest, and to not give the government a chance to accuse us of spreading Covid-19." Asked about the Ambala event, Charuni said: "The Bahujan society organised it to bring the country’s exploited people on a single platform. The agitation is not of farmers’ alone. The labourers and shopkeepers are also in it. It is of those who grow the grain and those who consume it." Charuni claimed that poverty and social discrimination had increased in the country, and "the entire business is being handed over to the corporate houses by amending the Constitution and silencing dissent." Reminded that the second wave was too serious, Charuni said: "We started the agitation in the corona period and we’d prefer to die protesting. If the government cares actually about our health, let it accept our demands and we’ll go home."

The Times of India

2021-04-26

Chandigarh