News Analysis India

Tag: Farmers stir

  • Farmers’ protest: Chakka jam today outside Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand

    By Express News Service
    CHANDIGARH/JAIPUR/LUCKNOW/NEW DELHI: With the government on Friday strongly defending the farm laws in Rajya Sabha despite protests against them gathering momentum, farmers unions said that the chakka jam planned for Saturday will not take place in UP, Uttarakhand and Delhi, but will cover other parts of the country, including southern states.

    While agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar said that the offer to amend the laws should not be viewed as if they had any flaws, the Opposition demanded that they be repealed and fresh ones brought after consultations.

    At the protest site, the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) announced their action plan on the chakka jam following a meeting between Balbir Singh Rajewal and Rakesh Tikait.

    ALSO READ | Global personalities reiterate their support to farmers despite Centre censure

    “As sugarcane harvesting is on in UP and Uttarakhand, farmers will be busy. The SKM has decided that farmers in these two states will not resort to chakka jam and will submit memos to the deputy commissioners. Delhi is also kept away from tomorrow’s stir, though it will cover the rest of the country,” said Tikait and Rajewal. 

    Tikait welcomed the support from international artistes and activists, including Rihanna and Greta Thunberg, but admitted he didn’t know them.  The SKM’ said only national and state highways are to be jammed from 12 noon to 3.00 pm.

    The farmer leaders appealed to keep it peaceful. Sources said farmer unions fear angry outbursts in UP’s Pilibhit belt as the kisans there are upset over the deaths of some of their comrades. “That’s why the blockade has been called off in these areas,” said a source.

    Two mahapanchayats, one each in Rajasthan’s Dausa and  Shamli in western UP, drew massive crowds. While Dausa is Congress leader Sachin Pilot’s pocket burough, the one in Shamili was organised by SP and RLD.

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  • Government’s approach towards farmers’ stir adversarial and confrontionist, say 75 ex-civil servants

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The central government’s approach towards the farmers’ protest against the three new farm laws has been an adversarial and a confrontationist one from the very beginning, a group of former civil servants said in an open letter written on Friday.

    The letter signed by 75 former civil servants, including Najeeb Jung, Julio Riberio and Aruna Roy, who are part of the Constitutional Conduct Group (CCG) also said that the apolitical farmers are being treated like “an irresponsible opposition to be derided, demonised and defeated”.

    They said that “the repeated, albeit unsuccessful, attempts to polarise the agitation along regional, communal and other lines are also reprehensible”. “Such an approach can never lead to a solution,” the letter stated.

    If the government of India is indeed interested in an amicable solution, instead of proposing half-hearted steps such as putting the laws on hold for 18 months, it can withdraw the legislations and think of other possible solutions, given the basic constitutional position that the subject of agriculture is in the State list in the Constitution, it said.

    ALSO READ| ‘No chakka jam in Delhi’: Farmers’ body asks protestors to be peaceful during highway blockade

    “We in the CCG have, on 11 December 2020, issued a statement supporting the stand of the farmers. All that has happened since has made us feel even more strongly that great injustice has been done and continues to be done to the farmers,” the letter said.

    The former civil servants urged the government of India (GoI) to take “remedial action” on an issue which has caused “so much turmoil in the country over the past several months”. “We reassert and reiterate our support to the agitating farmers while expecting the government to provide a healing touch and to solve the issue to the satisfaction of the stakeholders,” the letter said.

    The former civil servants said that they note certain developments with “grave concern”. “The approach of the government of India towards the farmers’ protest has been an adversarial and confrontationist one from the very beginning, treating the apolitical farmers like an irresponsible opposition to be derided, demonised and defeated,” the letter said.

    The former bureaucrats said they were “particularly concerned about the developments that took place on 26 January 2021, Republic Day, the efforts to lay the blame on the farmers for the disruption of law and order on that day and the events that have followed”.

    Farmers, protesting against the laws at border points of Delhi for over two months, took out a tractor rally on January 26. But some farmers violated the designated routes and reached the Red Fort. Some of them hoisted religious flags there.

    ALSO READ| Centre held consultations with states, farmers before bringing farm laws: Agriculture Minister Tomar

    The former civil servants questioned as to why sedition charges were made out against certain journalists and a Member of Parliament of an opposition party on flimsy grounds, solely for certain tweets posted by them when the factual position was not clear.

    “The registration of the same case with very similar First Information Reports in various states run by the BJP smacks of vindictiveness and seems to be aimed at muzzling legitimate, democratic protests against the policies of the GoI,” the letter said.

    It said that “holding or presenting a view against the government or reporting different versions given by different people about an incident can, under no law, be held as an act against the nation”. “It bears repetition to say that a protest against a policy or action of the government is not an act of sedition against the nation,” the letter said.

    Withdrawal of cases against the farmers and tweeters, including the journalists, withdrawal of cases against all except miscreants who engaged in unlawful activities and stopping the vicious and sickening propaganda of calling the farmers Khalistanis are the minimum requirement for a conducive atmosphere for resumption of talks, it said.

    Thousands of farmers, mostly from Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, have been protesting at Delhi’s borders demanding the rollback of the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020 and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.

    The letter has also been signed by former IAS officers Najeeb Jung, Aruna Roy, Jawhar Sircar and Aurobindo Behera, ex-IFS officers KB Fabian and Aftab Seth, former IPS officers Julio Riberio and AK Samata among others.

  • Farmers’ protests: Mobile internet curbs to stay in Haryana’s Sonipat and Jhajjar districts

    By PTI
    CHANDIGARH: Mobile internet services will remain suspended in Haryana’s Sonipat and Jhajjar districts till Saturday evening, an official statement said. The mobile internet services were suspended in some districts of the state “to prevent disturbance of peace and public order” amid the ongoing farmer agitation against the three agricultural laws of the Centre.

    “The Haryana Government has extended the suspension of mobile internet services (2G/ 3G/ 4G/ CDMA/ GPRS), SMS services (only bulk SMS) and all dongle services provided on mobile networks except the voice calls in two districts, Sonipat and Jhajjar, till 5 pm on February 6,” the statement said here on Friday.

    The order said that any person found violating the order will be liable for legal action under relevant provisions.

    The state government had ordered suspension of mobile internet services in three districts bordering Delhi — Sonipat, Jhajjar and Palwal – after the breakout of violence in the national capital during the farmers’ tractor rally on the Republic Day.

    After January 26, the mobile internet services were suspended in 17 districts but were subsequently restored, barring for the Sonipat and Jhajjar districts. Opposition parties had also condemned the curbs on mobile internet, saying the move would affect students preparing for various examinations.

  • FIR against farmers’ family for allgedly insulting national flag

    By PTI
    PILIBHIT: The mother and brother of a farmer, who died in a road accident near the Ghazipur protest site, have been booked along with another person for allegedly insulting the national flag after a video of his last rites here showed the body draped in the Tricolour, police said Friday.

    According to the flag code of India, draping the Tricolour in a civilian funeral is an offence.

    The farmer had gone to the farmers’ protest site on the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border and died in an accident near there, police said.

    ​ALSO READ | India compares Red Fort incident with Capitol violence as US flags internet cut

    “Baljindra, a resident of Bari Bujhia village in Sehramau area had gone to participate in the farmers’ agitation on January 23 with his friends. He died in a mishap on January 25 and is body was kept in a mortuary as that of an unidentified person. His family members came to know about the incident on February 2 and they brought the body here,” Superintendent of Police, Jai Prakash Yadav, said.

    “The family members covered the body with the national flag like that of a martyr and took it for last rites on Thursday. The video of the last rites went viral on social media after which an FIR was registered against Baljindra’s mother Jasvir Kaur, brother Gurvinder and one unidentified,” the SP said.

    Thousands of farmers are camping at Delhi borders since November demanding that the Centre take back the three agri laws enacted last September and guarantee minimum support price for crops.

    The Centre has maintained that the laws are pro-farmer.

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  • What’s wrong if foreign celebs support our stir; don’t know Rihanna, Greta Thunberg: Rakesh Tikait

    By PTI
    GHAZIABAD: “Mujhe kya pata, kara hoga.Main kya unhe jaanun!” farmer leader Rakesh Tikait said on Thursday, breaking into his characteristic rustic style of conversation when asked about the support from several international celebrities to the protests against new agri laws.

    The 51-year-old Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader from the hinterlands of Muzaffarnagar in western Uttar Pradesh welcomed the support from international artistes and activists, including Rihanna and Greta Thunberg, although admitting he does not know them.

    Talking to the media at Ghazipur on the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border, Tikait, who is credited with reviving the agitation that had gone slim after the January 26 violence in Delhi, sought to know who these people were.

    “Kaun hain ye videshi kalaakar? (Who are these foreign artists)?” Tikait said exhibiting unawareness when asked about the foreigners supporting the farmers’ movement.

    When informed about American pop-singer Rihanna, adult star Mia Khalifa and Swedish teen climate activist Greta Thunberg, the Sisauli-born Tikait responded: “Mujhe kya pata, kara hoga. Main kya unhe jaanun! (They would have supported the farmers’ protest, but I don’t know them!).”

    “Koi videshi agar samarthan kar raha to kya dikkat hai, kuch le-de thodi na raha hai (If some foreigner is supporting the movement, then what is the problem. They are not giving us or taking anything away from us),” he said.

    ALSO READ| US govt reaction to farmer protests must be seen in its entirety: Ministry of External Affairs

    Commenting on a futile attempt of 15 members of parliament to reach Ghazipur and meet protestors earlier on Thursday, the BKU national spokesperson said the MPs should have sat on the ground on the other side of the barricading where they were stopped by the Delhi Police.

    “Barricading laga rakhi hai inge. Unhe aana tha, we wahin baith jaate. We unghe baith jaate hum inge baithe the (A barricading has been set up here. The MPs had to come, but they should have sat down there itself. They would have been on the other side and we on this side (of the barricades),” he said.

    Tikait said he did not have any talk with the 15 MPs who had tried to come to Ghazipur to meet the protestors. He added that they were also not allowed to speak to the protestors.

    The 15 MPs from 10 Opposition parties, including the SAD, the DMK, the NCP and the Trinamool Congress, wanted to meet protestors at Ghazipur. Members of the National Conference, the RSP and the IUML were also part of the delegation.

    Parliament member and Shiromani Akali Dal leader Harsimrat Kaur Badal, who coordinated the visit, said the leaders were not allowed to cross the barricades and reach the protest site, where thousands of farmers are camping since November with a demand that the government repeal the new agri-marketing laws enacted last September.

    ALSO READ| Farmers’ protest: No ‘chakka jam’ on February 6 in Delhi, says Rakesh Tikait

    The farmers protest at Ghazipur, Tikri and Singhu at Delhi borders have now attained global spotlight with prominent international celebrities and rights activists talking about the stir.

    In its pushback, the government said the facts on the issue must be ascertained before rushing to comment on it, and asserted that the “temptation” of sensationalist social media hashtags and views is “neither accurate nor responsible”.

  • US government reaction to farmer protests must be seen in its entirety: Ministry of External Affairs

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Hours after the Biden Administration reacted to the farmer protests, India on Thursday said the comments must be seen in their entirety, and appeared to compare the reactions and sentiments in the country after incidents of violence and vandalism at the Red Fort on January 26 to those following the recent clashes at the US’ Capitol Hill.

    At a media briefing, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said any protests must be seen in the context of India’s democratic ethos and polity, and the ongoing efforts of the government and the concerned farmer groups to resolve the impasse.

    “The incidents of violence and vandalism at the historic Red Fort on January 26 have evoked similar sentiments and reactions in India as did the incidents on the Capitol Hill on 6 January and are being addressed as per our respective local laws,” he said.

    In its first reaction to the ongoing farmers’ agitation, the new US administration on Thursday said it encourages that any differences between the parties be resolved through dialogue even as it backed steps that can improve the efficiency of India’s markets and attract greater investment.

    ALSO READ| India-US fully committed to further strengthening ties: India’s envoy

    The US also said peaceful protests and unhindered access to the internet are “hallmarks” of a “thriving democracy”. “We have taken note of comments of the US State Department. It is important to see such comments in the context in which they were made and in their entirety,” he said.

    Srivastava said both India and the United States are vibrant democracies with shared values. “The temporary measures with regard to internet access in certain parts of the NCR region were therefore understandably undertaken to prevent further violence,” Srivastava added.

    The MEA spokesperson said the US state department has acknowledged the steps being taken by India towards agricultural reforms. “Any protests must be seen in the context of India’s democratic ethos and polity, and the ongoing efforts of the government and the concerned farmer groups to resolve the impasse,” he said.

  • Motivated campaigns targeting India won’t succeed: S Jaishankar on global support for farmers’ stir

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: Motivated campaigns targeting India will never succeed, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Wednesday, in comments that came on a day his ministry hit out singer Rihanna and climate activist Greta Thunberg for their support to farmers agitating against the new agricultural laws.

    ALSO READ| India equipped to resolve crisis amicably: Lata Mangeshkar

    A tweet by Rihanna extending support to protesting farmers triggered a wave of support for them by a number of global celebrities, activists and politicians. “Motivated campaigns targeting India will never succeed. We have the self confidence today to hold our own. This India will push back,” Jaishankar said on Twitter with hastags #IndiaTogether and #IndiaAgainstPropaganda.

    Motivated campaigns targeting India will never succeed. We have the self confidence today to hold our own. This India will push back. #IndiaTogether #IndiaAgainstPropaganda
    — Dr. S. Jaishankar (@DrSJaishankar) February 3, 2021

    In a strong response to the remarks made by Rihanna and other celebrities and activists, the Ministry of External Affairs earlier said the “temptation” of sensationalist social media hashtags and comments is “neither accurate, nor responsible”.

    Besides Rihanna, Swedish teen climate activist Greta Thunberg, Meena Harris, an American lawyer and niece of US Vice President Kamala Harris, actress Amanda Cerni, singers Jay Sean, Dr Zeus and former adult star Mia Khalifa too voiced their support to the protesting farmers.

    Rihanna on Tuesday became the first global name to voice her support to the ongoing farmers agitation while criticising the Internet shutdown at the protest sites at Delhi border.

    ALSO READ| Akshay, Ajay and others say ‘India against propaganda’ after Rihanna, Greta support farmers protest

    In its reaction, the MEA also said some “vested interest groups” are trying to enforce their agenda on the protests and that a very small section of farmers in parts of the country have some reservations about the farm reforms which were passed by the Parliament after a full debate and discussion.

    “Before rushing to comment on such matters, we would urge that the facts be ascertained, and a proper understanding of the issues at hand be undertaken,” the MEA said in the statement on ‘recent comments by foreign individuals and entities on the farmers’ protests’.

    Tens of thousands of farmers have been protesting at three border points on the outskirts of Delhi demanding a complete repeal of the three farm laws.

  • Rahul Gandhi ‘conspires’ with anti-India elements during his visits abroad: BJP

    BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra hit out at Gandhi over his attack on the government over the farmers #39; issue.

  • Congress made deal with BJP to not raise farmers’ protest issue in Parliament: AAP MP Sanjay Singh

    After being marshalled out of Rajya Sabha, Singh asked the Congress to clarify its stand on the farm laws enacted by the Centre recently.

  • Bharatiya Kisan Union’s Digamber Singh slams parties trying to usurp farmers’ stir platform

    By PTI
    BIJNOR: Bharatiya Kisan Union (Youth) president Digamber Singh on Tuesday accused political parties of trying to usurp the platform of farmers’ agitation against the three central laws to spoil the atmosphere of peaceful protests.

    Singh made the allegation amid BKU’s senior leader Rakesh Tikait, camping at Ghazipur’s Uttar Pradesh Gate on Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border, asserting that farmers’ protest is apolitical and no politician has been given the mic or space on farmers’ stage.

    Tikait made the assertion after an off-the-stage meeting with Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut at the farmers’ protest site at Ghazipur.

    The president of BKU (Youth), which organised a Kisan Samman Mahapanchayat on Monday in Bijnor, told PTI, “The movement going on Delhi borders is only by the farmers but the leaders of political parties want to usurp the platform by creating pressure through their supporters.On Monday too, due to a noisy protest by a group of people present in the crowd, one of their leaders had to be called on the stage of the Mahapanchayat to handle the situation.”

    “A prominent opposition leader in Uttar Pradesh had asked for permission to attend the Kisan Samman Mahapanchayat held in Bijnor on Monday but was flatly denied,” he said, adding “the atmosphere is getting worse”.

    While generally keeping political parties away from the farmer agitation, the BKU (Y) on Monday had allowed RLD leader Jayant Chaudhary on its Kisan Samman Mahapanchayat platform in Bijnor.