Farmers Movement Archive

Kisan Sansad drags stir out of bog Republic Day march got it into

BATHINDA: After a long lull in these eight months of protesting against the central agri-marketing laws, the farmers are back into limelight with their own parliament called Kisan Sansad. Six months ago, the unsavoury incidents of the tractor parade had even branded them anti-national. After January 26, even though the protests continued on the Delhi borders, the impact was lost, except when the farmers campaigned in the West Bengal assembly elections and were able to damage the Bharatiya Janata Party. Then on July 17, they took the bold step of issuing ‘voters’ whip’ to the opposition MPs, asking them to be their voice for MSP’s legal guarantee and the repeal of farm laws, and the movement was back alive. On July 22, they even got permission from Delhi Police to hold Kisan Sansad at Jantar Mantar parallel to the official Parliament session. Opposition MPs from both houses listened to their call and disrupted Parliament for three days. The farmers will do it all monsoon session until August 13. Independence Day is not far, and to avoid what happened on Republic Day, Delhi’s security is tighter than before. But even police escort is no mean achievement, claim the farmers. On November 26 last year, that batches left Punjab and Haryana for Delhi, for just two days of protest inside the national capital. They were stopped on the Singhu and Tikri borders and the protest turned "indefinite". The talks with the government are stalled since January 22. Union agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar has called farmers back to the negotiating table, if they are not stuck on repeal. The farmers say nothing less is acceptable. Farmer unionists such as Joginder Singh Ugrahan of the BKU (Ekta-Ugrahan) claimed: "Staying eight months against a formidable opposition was not easy, after January 26 especially, when the protest had reached its weakest point, but the BJP defeat in three states, including West Bengal, gave us a boost and now Kisan Sansad is preparing us to hurt the BJP in the Uttar Pradesh elections." Farm unionist Balbir Singh Rajewal said: "The BJP understands only the voice of votes. We got the saffron in Bengal and now we’ll get them in UP and Uttarakhand." Protests are on at 100 places in Punjab, at toll plazas, private company’s petrol pumps, FCI silos run by a private firm, railway tracks, and outside the BJP houses. It’s happening in Haryana as well.

The Times of India

2021-07-25

Amritsar