Farmers Movement Archive

‘Khaps’ spearhead agitation in Haryana

Though the farmers agitation in Punjab is primarily led by farmer unions with substantial political support, “Khaps”, the community organisations representing a clan or a group of related clans, spearhead the movement in Haryana, which has witnessed a late surge in agitation. Four days after the November 26 farmer unions’ call for “Dilli Chalo”, hundreds of farmers from across 59 villages in and around Charki Dadri district in Haryana held a “panchayat” under the aegis of “Sangwan Khap” to express their solidarity with the agitators. The “Sangwan Khap”, one of the first few community organisations in Haryana to extend support to the agitation, also persuaded its president and Independent Dadri MLA Sombir Sangwan to resign as the Chairman of Haryana Livestock Development Board and withdraw support to the BJP-JJP coalition government. “Around 1,500 people in 300-odd vehicles, including cars and tractor-trolleys, reached the Tikri border to hold a permanent sit-in on December 1. Later, two batches of 500 farmers each from among them went to Shahjhanpur and Dhadsa (Badli-Najafgarh) borders to hold sit-ins. Another batch of around 300 farmers is expected in a couple of days,” said Narsingh Sangwan, general secretary, “Sangwan Khap”. He added that support to the agitation from Haryana had grown over the past three or four days. Harnarayan Boora, president of “Boora Khap”, with presence in around a dozen villages in Hisar, said the villagers supplied flour, vegetables, milk, tea leaves and other essential items to the protesters in Delhi on alternate days. The “Dalal Khap” has set up a “langar” (community kitchen) at Sarai Aurangabad near the Tikri border, serving around 4,000 people every day. One of the largest “Khaps” in Haryana, it has presence in 172 villages in Rewari, Jhajjar, Jind, Rohtak, Sonipat and Charki Dadri.

The Hindu

2020-12-24

GURUGRAM