News Analysis India

Tag: Farmers Protest

  • Punjab CM Charanjit Singh Channi stops his cavalcade near protest site, reiterates support to farmers

    By PTI

    CHANDIGARH: Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi on Saturday reiterated his support to the ongoing farmers’ agitation against the Centre’s three farm laws.

    The CM stopped his cavalcade when he saw a protest by farmers at a toll plaza near Jhallian village on Ropar-Chamkaur Sahib road.

    “Channi straightaway went to the site of the ‘dharna’ and expressed solidarity with the farmers, reiterating his support to the struggle being waged by the farming community,” according to a government statement.

    The chief minister said the Punjab government stands shoulder to shoulder with the farmers against these “draconian” farm laws.

    “We are duty bound to safeguard the interests of the farmers and will continue to wholeheartedly extend support to your agitation until the anti-farmer agricultural laws are done away with,” Channi was quoted as saying in the statement.

    He alleged the three laws are the “culmination of the conspiracy to subjugate India’s farmers for the advantage of a handful of crony capitalist friends of the Modi government”.

  • Varun Gandhi posts video of UP man setting fire to crop, seeks agri policy rethink

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: BJP MP Varun Gandhi on Saturday shared a video clip purportedly showing a man setting fire to a heap of paddy crop after his vain efforts to sell it, and sought a rethink of the agriculture policy.

    Gandhi shared the video of the man on Twitter. “Samodh Singh, a farmer of Uttar Pradesh, had been running around mandis for the last 15 days to sell his paddy crop. When paddy did not sell, he in frustration put fire to it himself. Where has this system brought the farmers? The need of the hour is to rethink our agriculture policy,” he said.

    Without making a direct attack, the BJP leader has been critical of the government’s handling of agri issues of late and has also sympathised with the farmers protesting against the three farm laws.

    उत्तर प्रदेश के किसान श्री समोध सिंह पिछले 15 दिनों से अपनी धान की फसल को बेचने के लिए मंडियों में मारे-मारे फिर रहे थे, जब धान बिका नहीं तो निराश होकर इसमें स्वयं आग लगा दी।इस व्यवस्था ने किसानों को कहाँ लाकर खड़ा कर दिया है? कृषि नीति पर पुनर्चिंतन आज की सबसे बड़ी ज़रूरत है। pic.twitter.com/z3EjYw9rIz
    — Varun Gandhi (@varungandhi80) October 23, 2021

  • No rationale for farmers’ protest as SC already stayed farm laws: Uttar Pradesh Agriculture Minister

    By ANI

    NEW DELHI: Uttar Pradesh Agriculture Minister Surya Pratap Shahi on Thursday said that there is no rationale for the farmers’ protest as the Supreme Court has already stayed the farm laws.

    “Those who have faith in the Constitution of India and the Hon’ble Supreme Court should follow their orders. There is no justification for protest since the court has stayed the farm laws for a year, there is no rationale in that ” Shahi told ANI.

    “A reformist step was taken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji with a view to resolving the difficulties of the farmers which have been there for 40-50 years,” he added.

    “Efforts have been made in it with a view to getting better prices passed to the farmers. When the Supreme Court had suspended this law, it said that indefinitely blocking the road is not a solution to any problem. It is true. There is no solution, only dialogue can solve the problem,” he stated.

    Speaking about whether the farmers’ movement will have an impact on the upcoming Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, Shahi said, “The farmers of Uttar Pradesh are not with this movement. Yogi ji’s government has made efforts with a view to solving all the difficulties of the farmers. We have increased the irrigation resources and are paying farmers the prices of the products by purchasing them on a large scale at minimum support price.”

    “Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath ji has instructed that if it is fully paid, then we have got the arrears paid. Within the last 4 years, more than one lakh 45 thousand crore rupees have been paid to the farmers in the form of sugarcane price. Similarly, in the case of the purchase of paddy and wheat, in Uttar Pradesh, an amount of about 80 lakh crore rupees has been paid. Wheat, pulses and oilseeds have been procured in the last four years,” he stated.

    Earlier on Thursday, the Supreme Court said that farmers have the right to protest but roads cannot be blocked indefinitely. This came while hearing a plea against the blockade of roads between Delhi to Noida due to farmers’ protests against the three agriculture laws.

    Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections are scheduled to take place early next year.

  • Farmers have right to protest but they can’t block roads indefinitely: SC

    A bench headed by Justice S K Kaul said it was not against the right to protest even when the legal challenge is pending but ultimately some solution has to be found.

  • Punjab Deputy CM Randhawa alleges conspiracy to sully farmers’ agitation

    By Express News Service

    NEW DELHI: The meeting of a Nihang leader with Union Agriculture Minister NS Tomar three months back has raised many eyebrows. Punjab Deputy Chief Minister-Cum-Home Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa on Tuesday said: “There appears to be a deep-rooted conspiracy to defame the farmers’ stir.”

    Randhawa was referring to the recent incident of the lynching of Lakhbir Singh at the Singhu border. He promised complete justice saying the government would go to the bottom of the case and identify and expose the conspirators behind the incident.

    He said: “In view of the recent disclosures about one of the Nihang leaders having already been in touch with the central government and Union Agriculture Minister N S Tomar in particular, the lynching incident has now taken an entirely different turn. The same Nihang leader is now defending the main accused in Lakhbir Singh’s murder.”

    “Lakhbir Singh belonged to Cheema Kalan village and was very poor. We need to find out as to who lured him to Singhu border and who paid for his travel as he could not even afford his meals,” the Deputy CM observed while adding that he had instructed the local administration to find out under what circumstances he was taken away from his home in Cheema Kalan village to Singhu border. Randhawa said: “In view of the recent photographic evidence available, the Nihang leader will also need to explain as in what capacity he had met Tomar.”

  • Centre should listen to ‘right thinking people’ in BJP: Farmer leaders on Guv Malik’s offer of mediation

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: With Meghalaya Governor Satya Pal Malik offering to mediate between the agitating farmers and the Centre, farmer leaders said on Tuesday that they do need any mediation but the BJP government should listen to the “right thinking people” in the party and resume the dialogue, which is stalled since January.

    Malik, who has been supporting the protesting farmers, on Sunday asserted that he is ready to mediate if the Centre agrees to give legal guarantee on minimum support price (MSP) for crops.

    “There is only one thing which will solve the entire issue. If the government agrees to give the MSP guarantee, I will mediate and convince the farmers,” Malik had said at an event in Rajasthan’s Jhunjhunu on Sunday.

    Kavitha Kuruganti of the Alliance for Sustainable & Holistic Agriculture (ASHA) believes that the “right-thinking people” in BJP should continue to put pressure on the leadership to fulfil the farmers’ demands.

    “I think that there is no mediation required between the farmers and the government.

    However, what right-thinking people in BJP should do is continue to put pressure on the party and its leadership for fulfilling the farmers’ demands,” Kuruganti said.

    She added that the refusal to fulfil the “legitimate, evidence-based demands” has no sound reasoning behind it.

    “These farmer-friendly voices in the party should also make sure that the morality bar of the party does not slip so low that it is irretrievable.

    They should ensure that (Minister of State) Ajay Mishra Teni is sacked and arrested,” she said.

    Echoing Kuruganti’s opinion, the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU), a part of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) and an influential group in western UP, said that Malik had offered support earlier as well but the BJP did not listen to him.

    It was, however, ready for anyone to act as a mediator if the demands are met.

    “We have two main demands. The bills must be taken back and a law made to ensure MSP for crops. Satya Pal Malik or anyone who thinks they can mediate the issue are welcome,” BKU’s media in-charge Dharmendra Malik told PTI.

    He added that Malik, who hails from western Uttar Pradesh, had earlier also offered his advice to the Centre over the farmers’ issue but the BJP did not listen to him.

    “Instead of listening to him, his own party made him the Governor of Meghalaya and sent him there,” Malik added.

    Farmer leader Abhimanyu Kohar of Bharatiya Kisan Mazdoor Mahasangh said that mediation would have helped if the government did not know their demands and about the situation.

    “We don’t need mediation. The 11 rounds of talks we had with the government were without mediators and it’s not like they don’t know our demands.

    When they are clearly aware of our demands then it’s just them and us who need to sit down, talk and reach a decision,” Kohar told PTI.

    Farmers from different parts of the country have been camping at the Delhi borders since November 26 last year, demanding the repeal of the three central farm laws.

    While the farmers have been expressing fear that the laws would do away with the Minimum Support Price system, leaving them at the mercy of the corporations, the government has been projecting them as major agricultural reforms.

    With the last talk held on January 22, the 11 rounds of talks between the two parties have failed to break the deadlock.

    The Supreme Court had in January suspended the implementation of the laws.

    Another farmer leader, Shiv Kumar Kakka, the convener of Rashtriya Kisan Mahasangh, a constituent of Samyukt Kisan Morcha, also said that the government will never allow a mediator as it was adamant over not repealing the three farm laws.

    “Governor Malik is a good man. He has supported farmers earlier as well. But the government will never allow a mediator because they don’t want to repeal the laws.

  • If BJP doesn’t listen to farmers, it won’t return to power: Meghalaya Governor Satya Pal Malik

    By Express News Service

    JAIPUR: Meghalaya Governor Satya Pal Malik has warned the BJP that it will not return to power unless the Centre listens to farmers protesting the new agricultural laws. “There is only one thing which will solve the entire issue. If the government agrees to give legal guarantee to the minimum support price mechanism, I will mediate and convince the farmers,” he told the media in Rajasthan’s Jhunjhunu on Sunday.

    “I am with the farmers. I have fought with PM and home minister for them. I have told everyone that what they are doing is wrong and they should not do it,” Malik said. He also spoke on the Lakhimpur Kheri violence on Oct 3, when eight people were killed after being knocked down by a vehicle carrying BJP workers. Farmers alleged that Union minister Ajay Mishra’s son Ashish was in one of the vehicles.

    Responding to a question, he said Ajay Mishra should have been asked to resign. “It is completely wrong. Resignation of the minister should have been sought the day Lakhimpur Kheri incident took place. Otherwise, too, he doesn’t deserve to be a minister.” Malik, an outspoken Jat leader from western Uttar Pradesh, alleged that BJP leaders can’t even enter any village in Meerut, Baghpat and Muzaffarnagar in UP, which is headed to polls in February. 

    Commenting on the killings of civilians in J&K, he said: “When I was Governor of J&K, nothing was happening. There was no stone pelting; nobody was dying. No terrorists dared enter within 50 km of Srinagar. Now, they are killing openly in the city. It is saddening.”

  • ‘Rail Roko’ protest paralyses services in Haryana and Punjab, mixed response in Uttar Pradesh

    Express News Service

    LUCKNOW/CHANDIGARH: Farmers in Punjab and Haryana squatted on rail tracks on Monday as part of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha’s six-hour ‘rail roko’. Rail services were thus paralysed. However, the nationwide Rail Roko protest over the Lakhimpur Kheri violence evoked a mixed response across Uttar Pradesh.

    The New Delhi-Amritsar Shatabdi Express stopped near Shambu station as protesters blocked railway tracks near Sahnewal and Rajpura. Also other trains were stopped on their tracks. A statement issued by the Northern Railway CPRO said: “So far, 150 locations in the northern Railway zone have been affected and operations of 60 trains hindered. About 25 passenger and short distance trains have been cancelled.’’

    The rail traffic on Bhiwani-Rewari, Sirsa-Rewari, Loharu-Hisar, Suratgarh-Bathinda, Sirsa-Bathinda, Hanumangarh-Bathinda, Rohtak-Bhiwani, Rewari-Sadulpur, Hisar-Bathinda, Hanumangarh-Sadulpur and Sri Ganganagar-Rewari sections was affected. Also eighteen trains, including the Firozpur-Hanumangarh Special train, Ludhiana-Hisar Special train, were cancelled. Some 10 trains partially cancelled due to the stir are Ahmedabad-Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra Special, the railway spokesperson said, adding the train which departed from Ahmedabad on Saturday would run via Rewari-Delhi-Pathankot to Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra.

    Meanwhile, the response was lukewarm in eastern and central UP. However, its impact was conspicuous in western UP where farmers squatted on the tracks at various places. The protesters demanded the removal of Union minister of state for home Ajay Kumar Mishra ‘Teni’, whose son has been arrested in the Lakhimpur Kheri case. ADG, Law and Order, Prashant Kumar, said 160 companies of Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) and another nine companies of paramilitary forces were deployed.

    North Railway Zone’s 150 locations affectedThe ‘rail roko’ protest affected 150 locations in the Northern Railway zone due to which movement of 60 trains including Chandigarh-Ferozepur Express, New Delhi-Amritsar Shatabdi Express Jalandhar Express. According to the CPRO, Northern Railway, 25 short-distance such as Firozpur-Hanumangarh Special train, Ludhiana-Hisar Special train, Bathinda-Sriganganagar Special train, Bathinda-Lalgarh Special train, were cancelled due to the agitation. 

  • Lakhimpur Kheri violence: Stray protests, no major impact of ‘Rail Roko’ in Uttar Pradesh

    By PTI

    LUCKNOW: Barring stray protests at railway tracks at some places, the Samyukt Kisan Morcha’s six-hour ‘Rail Roko’ stir over Lakhimpur Kheri violence failed to create any significant impact in Uttar Pradesh on Monday.

    The farmers protested briefly at some places of the state.

    There was heavy police deployment in and around railway stations, but trains stopped briefly at few stations, railway officials said.

    Trains were halted at Meerut and Greater Noida’s Dankaur stations by the protesters, BKU media in-charge Dharmendra Malik said.

    In Ghaziabad’s Modinagar, they agitated in front of a goods train which had already reached its destination.

    In Uttar Pradesh’s Muzaffarnagar, Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) workers halted the Amritsar-Delhi and the Jalandhar Express trains by staging a dharna on rail tracks.

    The BKU workers also staged a token demonstration at the Raya Station in Mathura, officials said, adding that they later vacated the railway tracks.

    Meanwhile, peace prevailed in Lakhimpur Kheri, the site of the October 3 violence.

    ALSO READ: ‘Rail roko’ affects 150 locations in Northern Railway zone, 60 trains affected

    The railways had suspended train movement in the region, with the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) also withdrawing its agitation there.

    Amandeep Singh Sandhu, BKU district president, told PTI that in “view of the prevailing situation in Kheri, the SKM had cancelled the ‘rail roko’ agitation in the district”.

    “Also, the untimely rains and heavy winds had hit the paddy crops in the district and farmers are busy managing the crop… the railways has also suspended the movement of trains in Kheri, hence, it (agitation) was of no use there,” he said.

    The farmers’ body had given the call for nationwide ‘rail roko andolan’ to demand the dismissal and arrest of Minister of State for Home Ajay Mishra to ensure justice in the Lakhimpur Kheri case.

    Ashish Mishra, son of Ajay Mishra, was arrested in connection with the case on October 9.

    Shivam Sharma, PRO, North Central Railway (NCR) said farmers stopped the Gomti Express for two to three minutes at the Khurja Railway Station.

    The protesters, however, left after being persuaded by the police.

    In Jhansi, the farmers demonstrated for around 10 minutes at the Dabra Station and between Gohad and Malanpur stations.

    They later left after being asked by the police, he said.

    Similarly at two places between Mathura-Palwal of Agra Division, the farmers demonstrated at the railway gate and also near the Rundhi Station.

    ALSO READ: Not received any report of disturbance, say Delhi Police on Farmers’ ‘rail roko’ stir

    Sharma said there was no loss of railway property.

    “In Lucknow, police were deployed in large numbers at Utrathia and Alamnagar railway stations. The security personnel prevented the farmers from entering the stations,” Lucknow Police Commissioner D K Thakur said.

    He said elaborate security arrangements have been made outside all railway stations of the state capital, and farmers were stopped before reaching the stations.

    Kanpur Police Commissioner Aseem Arun said there was no impact of the farmers’ agitation in Kanpur as tight security arrangements were maintained as a precautionary measure.

    The SKM, leading the movement against the Centre’s new agricultural laws, had in a statement said that the agitation of the farmers would be intensified till there was justice in the Lakhimpur Kheri case.

    It had also said that trains would be stopped from 10 am to 4 pm on Monday during the ‘Rail Roko’ protest.

    “A nationwide rail roko andolan to demand the dismissal and arrest of Minister of State for Home Ajay Mishra to ensure justice in the Lakhimpur Kheri case will be held on October 18,” it had said.

    Eight people, including four farmers, died in the violence on October 3.

    The four farmers were allegedly knocked down by a vehicle carrying BJP workers.

    Angry farmers then allegedly lynched some people in the vehicles.

    The other dead included two BJP workers and their driver.

    Farmers have claimed that Ashish Mishra was in one of the vehicles, an allegation denied by him and Ajay Mishra, who say they can produce evidence to prove he was at an event at that time.

  • ‘Rail Roko’ protest: Farmers block train traffic in Punjab, demand justice in Lakhimpur violence case

    By PTI

    CHANDIGARH: Farmers in Punjab squatted on rail tracks on Monday morning as part of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha’s six-hour ‘rail roko’ protest demanding the dismissal and arrest of Union Minister Ajay Mishra in connection with the violence in Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur Kheri.

    A railway official said four sections of the Ferozepur division were blocked by the protesters.

    The Ferozepur-Fazilka section in Ferozepur city and the Ferozepur-Ludhiana section at Ajitwal in Moga were affected, the official said.

    ​ALSO READ | Lakhimpur incident: SKM to hold ‘Rail Roko’ on October 18 to demand dismissal, arrest of Union Minister Ajay Mishra

    Demanding the arrest of Union Minister Ajay Mishra, Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee general secretary Sarwan Singh Pandher, on Monday, said the KMSC will hold protests at 20 places in 11 districts of the state.

    In a statement, the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), an umbrella body of farmer unions spearheading the agitation against the Centre’s three agri laws, had said “protests will be intensified until justice is secured” in the Lakhimpur Kheri case.

    During the ‘rail roko’ protest, all train traffic will be stopped from 10 am till 4 pm on Monday, the SKM had said.

    “To press for its demand for MoS Home Ajay Mishra’s dismissal and arrest, so that justice can be secured in the Lakhimpur Kheri massacre, Samyukt Kisan Morcha has announced a nation-wide Rail Roko programme.”

    ALSO READ | Lakhimpur Kheri violence: Cong slams PM Modi for not removing Union minister despite son’s arrest

    “SKM put out a call to its constituents to stop rail traffic for six hours on October 18 between 10 am and 4 pm. The SKM asks for this action to be taken up peacefully, without any destruction and damage of any kind to any railway property,” it had said.

    Four of the eight people who died in the violence on October 3 were farmers, allegedly knocked down by a vehicle carrying BJP workers.

    Haryana | Protestors block railway tracks at Bahadurgarh in protest against Lakhimpur Kheri incidentSamyukta Kisan Morcha has called for nationwide ‘Rail roko’ in protest against the incident pic.twitter.com/Ucvmfq6PcM
    — ANI (@ANI) October 18, 2021
    Angry farmers then allegedly lynched some people in the vehicles.

    The other dead included two BJP workers and their driver.

    Farmers have claimed that Ashish Mishra was in one of the vehicles, an allegation denied by him and Ajay Mishra who say they can produce evidence to prove he was at an event at that time.

    Ashish Mishra was arrested in the case on October 9.