Express News Service
CHANDIGARH: Despite the Supreme Court suspending the implementation of the farm laws, the farmers are in no mood to scale down their protests. On Wednesday, they burnt over one lakh copies of the three legislations at the agitation sites on Delhi border as well as in villages across Punjab on the festival of Lohri as a mark of protest.
Several bonfires were lit at the Singhu, Tirki and Ghazipur borders as farmers raised slogans, burnt copies of the laws, sang songs of resistance and hope and prayed for the success of their mission. Farmer leaders including Balbir Singh Rajewal, Darshan Pal, Gurnam Singh Chaduni, Harinder Singh Lakhowal, Yogendra Yadav and others threw copies of the farm laws in the bonfire lit on the premises of the Kisan Andolan office at Singhu border.
Sukhdev Singh, general secretary of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ekta-Ughrahan), said, “We celebrated Lohri at various places on the Delhi borders and in more than 1,600 villages across 22 districts of Punjab by burning the copies of the three ‘black laws’ as these are our death warrants. It is estimated that about one lakh copies of these laws were burnt. Marches were also taken out on the occasion.”The All India Kisan Sangarsh Coordination Committee claimed that farmers burnt copies of the laws at more than 20,000 spots all over the country.
It also appealed to all districts within 300 km of Delhi to mobilise tractors for the protest parade on Republic Day. The government, meanwhile, asked the protesting farmer unions to take part in the proceedings of the panel appointed by Supreme Court even as uncertainly prevailed over the fate of the ninth round of talks on January 15. “…Nothing is going to happen if the copies of the laws are burnt.
They should keep their views before the impartial committee set up by the court,” junior agriculture minister Kailash Choudhary said. “Don’t you think burning copies of the laws is disrespecting Parliament?” The Bar Council of India also urged the farmers to respect the judiciary and suspend the agitation. A released issued by the BCI chairperson also condemned the “irresponsible comments made by some politicians against the apex court”.
