A day after the farmers’ organizations announced to further intensify their kisan andolan from Saturday, the Punjab Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Friday also decided to hold separate state-level protests on December 14 to express solidarity with the farmers agitating against the Centre’s farm laws.
Both the parties declared that they stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the protesting farmers and will leave no stone unturned in getting their voices heard.
Punjab Congress president Sunil Jakhar on Friday said that the party would hold a large demonstration at Shambu (inter-state) border on December 14 in support of the farmers.
Jakhar, talking to reporters on the sidelines of a meeting with the Cabinet Ministers and party MLAs, said that the Congress would also participate in the district level protest called by the farmers on the same day.
He said that the demonstration would be organized so that the “insensitive and adamant” Central Government can hear the voice of the farmers. Jakhar said that the protests would be staged from 11 am to 3 pm.
“The Central Government must leave its arrogant behaviour and must accept the demands of the farmers. Prime Minister Narendra Modi should immediately listen to the farmers and respect their demands and repeal the three black laws,” he added.
AAP Punjab unit president Bhagwant Mann also announced his party’s whole-hearted support to the call given by the protesting farmers to intensify their agitation and escalate it to a nationwide protest on December 14.
He said that the party would hold protests at district headquarters across Punjab on December 14 against the new farm laws from 11 am to 3 pm, while appealing to the people to make it a success.
State Congress chief Jakhar said that the party would soon hold a big rally on the farmers’ issue.
“Had the Centre consulted farmers before framing these laws, no one would have had to go through this.
Neither the farmers would have been forced to sit and protest far away from their homes in cold weather nor the common people would have faced inconvenience,” Jakhar said.
He said that the Punjab Government had strongly presented the real picture of the Centre’s “black laws” before the people of the state.
“These black farm laws would prove just as detrimental for the country’s economy as demonetisation,” Jakhar claimed.
Echoing a similar sentiment, AAP’s Sangrur MP Mann said that the farmers had been forced to take to streets to protest against the contentious agriculture laws pushed by the Modi government to “give a free run to its favourite corporate houses”.
He claimed that the Centre was adopting repressive measures to crush the farmers’ agitation instead of acceding to their demands.
“AAP has been opposing the black laws since the day the ordinances were issued and will stand shoulder to shoulder with the farmers till these were revoked,” he said.
Mann said that the Arvind Kejriwal Government in the national capital had fielded its ministers, MLAs and volunteers to help the farmers protesting on the Delhi borders in every possible way.
Farmer unions, particularly in Punjab and Haryana, say the new laws will lead to the dismantling of the MSP system under which government agencies buy their crop at an assured price.
In its proposal to farmers on Wednesday, the Centre said that it would give a written assurance that the MSP system will remain and also redress their other key concerns. However, the unions demand the complete rollback of the central laws and are continuing their agitation.