Farmers Movement Archive

Battleground shifts to Muzaffarnagar

BATHINDA/JIND: The battleground shifted to Muzzafarnagar for two days as tens of thousands farmers are headed towards Uttar Pradesh (UP) city from parts of Punjab, Haryana and even borders of Delhi. The farmers boarded hundreds of buses hired by the farmer organisations to cover over seven-hour journey from various locations. From Haryana, farmers are mainly from Sirsa, Fatehabad, Hisar, Bhiwani, Dadri, Rohtak, Sonipat, Karnal, Panipat, Jind, Kaithal, Kurukshetra, Yamunanagar and Amabala The farmers are relying on the national-level mahapanchayat to be held at Muzzafarnagar on Sunday to kickstart the Mission UP and Uttarakhand for putting pressure on Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led central government to concede demands of farmers of repeal farm laws, make law for legal guarantee of minimum support price (MSP) for all crops to all farmers. Rajesh Kumar, one of the farmers from Bheri Akbarpur village of Hisar district who went via Jind-Panipat-Shamli to Muzaffarnagar, said, “The farmers will show their power to the Modi-led government by mobilising lakhs of people in Muzaffarnagar. Farmers have started their journey for kisan mahapanchayat a day before as they will not get space to ply vehicles on road following a massive mobilisation to show the saffron party that farmers have gained more power with the passage of time.” According to Sanyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), the mahapanchayat will be held at GIC ground but the live broadcast will be telecast in the surrounding grounds and it will make the Yogi-Modi governments realise the power of the farmers, farm labourers and supporters of the farm movement. The 500 langar services have been started for arranging meals for farmers, including mobile langar system run by hundreds of tractor-trolleys. To take care of the medical needs of the farmers attending the mahapanchayat, 100 medical camps have been set up and 5,000 volunteers have been deployed for all the arrangements. The mahapanchayat will be addressed by prominent leaders of the SKM. Farm organisation BKU (Ekta Ugrahan) general secretary Sukhdev Singh Kokri Kalan said 5,850 activists, including 1,050 women, have left for Muzzafarnagar in 123 vehicles from different districts. They will spend the night at Kurukshetra. Similarly, the leaders of other farm groups told that thousands of farmers have left for Muzzafarnagar by buses and trains and many others will leave in the wee hours of Sunday in train. Azad Singh Palwan, Jind BKU president, said as many as 19 khaps from Jind district would ensure two vehicles from each village registered their presence in UP. “Around 50,000 farmers from bangar area are expected to take part in the kisan mahapanchayat. The slogan ‘bil vapisi to hee ghar vapsi’ is still our clear message to the Modi government,” he added.

The Times of India

2021-09-05

Chandigarh