Farmers Movement Archive

Farmers call off Karnal protest after govt agrees to main demands

The impasse between Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) and Haryana government ended on Saturday morning with the government agreeing to accept most of the demands following three rounds of talks.Both sides agreed on a month-long probe by a former high court judge and IAS officer Ayush Sinha - who was facing criticism for his controversial “crack their (farmers) heads’’ remark - will proceed on leave during this period.The farmer leaders have announced to lift the indefinite protest from outside Karnal’s mini-secretariat.“A judicial inquiry of the incident (lathi-charge) at the Bastara toll plaza on August 28 will be conducted by a retired high court judge and the judge will submit the report in one month. During the investigation, IAS officer Ayush Sinha will remain on leave,” said additional chief secretary to Haryana government, Devender Singh in a joint conference along with farmer leaders on Saturday.He said that the government has also agreed to give two government jobs on DC rate, against sanction posts to the next kin of the farmer Shushil Kajal, who, according to the farmers, died due to lathi-charge. However, there was no MLR or postmortem report to prove their claims.During the two rounds of meetings with Karnal deputy commissioner Nishant Kumar Yadav, the farmer leaders were adamant about the registration of FIR and the suspension of the IAS officer.But on Friday evening, during the third meeting with ACS Devender Singh, the farmers agreed to a judicial probe to investigate the role of the IAS officer in the lathi-charge.“We had taken a legal opinion and found that judicial enquiry is a better option than the registration of FIR. And the FIR will be registered later if he was found guilty in the investigation,” said Charuni, who also addressed the joint press conference.However, there was no official confirmation on the financial assistance to the victims of the lathi-charge.Soon after the joint conference, farmers leader Gurnam Singh Charuni announced to end the protest but said that the farmers will continue to protest programmes of BJP-JJP leaders until the protest against three farm laws goes on at Delhi borders.High drama unfolded in chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar’s constituency of Karnal on August 28 after around 10 farmers allegedly sustained injuries in the lathi-charge at Bastara poll plaza.The farmers had gathered to protest a meeting of the ruling BJP in Karnal. The administration claimed that the police had to restore to lathi-charge as some farmers had blocked the NH 44.Later, a video of then Karnal SDM Ayush Sinha went viral on social media in which he was seen directing the cops to hit farmers and “crack their heads” if they crossed barricades installed near the venue of the BJP’s meeting scheduled at a private hotel.Later, the government the IAS officer was shifted to Chandigarh as the controversy blew up. The agitated farmers called a Mahapanchayat at Gharuanda grain market on August 30 and decided to gherao the Karnal mini-secretariat indefinitely if the government did not accept their demands including FIR and suspension of the IAS officer and compensation to injured farmers.Thousands of farmers from Haryana, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh gathered at Mahapanchayat called by senior SKM leaders on September 7. The farmers took out a 5-km protest march and laid siege of the main entrance of Karnal’s mini-secretariat despite the deployment of around 40 companies of police and paramilitary forces in Karnal.Timeline of eventsAugust 28: Police restored to lathi-charge on farmers who were protesting a meeting of Haryana BJP leaders including chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar at Karnal.August 30: Farmers held a meeting at Gharaunda grain market and gave a week’s ultimatum to the Haryana government for action against the SDM and compensation of injured farmers.September 6: Karnal DC invited farmer leaders for talks but the talks remained inconclusiveSeptember 7: Farmers called another Mahapanchayat at Karnal grain market and later laid siege of mini-secretariat indefinitely.September 8: Administration called farmers for another meeting but talks failed again.September 10: Farmers and government representatives led by ACS Devender Singh held a meeting and farmers agreed to lift the blockade following assurance on their most of demands.

Hindustan Times

12-09-2021

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