The farmers’ struggle against the Centre’s three agriculture bills began on Thursday with a three-day ‘Rail Roko’ campaign. Besides, the representatives of various farmers’ organizations and protestors have planned to block the roads and railway tracks at 125 places across Punjab on Friday, while making it clear that the protests would be “peaceful”.
In a first of its kind development, a total of 31 farmers’ organizations of Punjab have come under one umbrella to protest against the new farm laws, announcing ‘Punjab Bandh’ on September 25.
The farmers’ protest has received unprecedented response from all sections of the society, including the political parties except the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which have announced to extend their support and participate in the bandh.
“As per information from across the state, the call for bandh has received positive response from various unions of truckers, buses, tempos, employees, youngsters, students, labourers, and others,” said Darshan Pal, a representative of all farm unions.
He added that as per their initial estimates, rail tracks and roads would be blocked at around 125 locations across various districts of Punjab. “We request all to block roads and rail tracks peacefully and do not respond to any call for violence as miscreants might try to create problems during bandh. The locations of bandh could be increased as per the demands of members of various organizations,” he added.
As the farmers began their three-day rail roko agitation on Thursday, the Railways suspended several trains to avoid any untoward incident.
The call for ‘rail roko’ was given by the Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee and later different farmers’ outfits extended their support to it.
Activists of Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ekta Ugrahan) squatted on rail tracks in Barnala and Sangrur on Thursday morning. Farmers, under the banner of the Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee, have decided to squat on rail tracks near Devidaspur village in Amritsar and Basti Tanka wala in Ferozepur.
The Railways official said: “14 pairs of special trains will remain suspended from September 24 till 26. The decision has been taken keeping in mind the safety of passengers and protection of railway property from any damage.”
Among the trains that will remain suspended are the Golden Temple Mail (Amritsar-Mumbai Central), Jan Shatabdi Express (Haridwar-Amritsar), New Delhi-Jammu Tawi, Karambhoomi (Amritsar-New Jalpaiguri), Sachkhand Express (Nanded-Amritsar) and Shaheed Express (Amritsar-Jaynagar), officials said. Many freight and parcel trains have also been rescheduled.
Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee president Satnam Singh Pannu said that they have appealed to representatives of political parties, Ministers, MPs and MLAs not to take part in the farmers’ agitation. “We are getting support from several sections, including government employees and labourers,” he added.
The farmers decided to gherao BJP leaders and socially boycott those who voted in favour of the farm Bills.
At the same time, the farmer leaders have appealed to the rural medical practitioners to be ready for supporting the farmers in case of medical emergencies as a large number of women are taking part in the protests.
“The protest will be further intensified on September 26 as farmers will block rail tracks in Gurdaspur, Tarn Taran, Pathankot, Fazilka, Kapurthala and Jalandhar districts too,” said the committee’s state general secretary, Sarwan Singh Pandher.
The Railways has decided to cancel 28 trains from Amritsar and Ferozepur stations from 6 am on Thursday in view of the safety of passengers.
The trains have been partially cancelled and short terminated till September 26 as protesters blocked rail tracks at various places, including Amritsar, Ferozepur, Sangrur, Barnala, Mansa and Nabha, said the Railways official.
Among the trains that will remain suspended are the Golden Temple Mail (Amritsar-Mumbai Central), Jan Shatabdi Express (Haridwar-Amritsar), New Delhi-Jammu Tawi, Karambhoomi (Amritsar-New Jalpaiguri), Sachkhand Express (Nanded-Amritsar) and Shaheed Express (Amritsar-Jaynagar), the officials said.
SUPPORT POURS IN
Punjab’s 14 former IAS officers have also joined hands to appeal to the Central Government to take immediate initiative and resolve the present crisis in consultation with State Governments and representatives of other stakeholders including agitating farmers.
The former babus maintained that there was no urgency to issue these ordinances when the country was fighting Corona epidemic, and added, “It seems government deliberately chose the timing so that the opposition to these measures is minimal due to fear of Corona…law or instructions issued to combat corona would be helpful in dealing with agitation against these ordinances. In spite of Government calculations, lakhs of farmers and their supporters are on the roads flouting social distancing norms. This may lead to catastrophic situation”.
Maintaining that these bills impinge upon the rights of the States as well their finances, the former IAS officers said: “We have also noted with grave anguish and concern the manner in which two bills were passed in Rajya Sabha by ‘voice vote’ when several members were demanding ‘division’ (Voting). This does not augur well for our democratic functioning.” “Mere reading of the ordinances or bills would reveal that these measures would help the Corporate sector to expand in agriculture. The farmers are agitating against these bills. Most of their concerns and fears are genuine and well founded. We support their demands,” submitted a group of retired IAS officers including Dr Manmohan Singh, Dr. Harkesh Singh Sidhu, Kulbir Singh Sidhu, Gurnihal Singh Peerzada, Gurdev Singh Sidhu, Surinderjit Singh Sandhu, Sukhjit Singh Bains, Manjit Singh Narang, Prithi Chand, Capt. Narinder Singh, Tejinder Singh Dhaliwal, Sukhjit Singh Bains, Raminder Singh, Ujagar Singh.
Punjab Youth Congress, which on Thursday organized statewide ‘8 Vaje 8 Minute Mashal March’ in support of the Punjab bandh call of farmers, has also decided to support the agitation. “The PYC members will perform duties during dharnas be it serving water, food or other things needed at the spot,” said PYC president Brinder Singh Dhillon.
Sikhs’ mini parliament Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), radical Sikh organization Dal Khalsa and seminary Damdami Taksal have also extended their support to the farmers’ bandh call on September 25. Dal Khalsa spokesperson Kanwarpal Singh said, “The people of Punjab, including the political parties, should join hands for the cause. The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) should snap its ties with the BJP to show solidarity with farmers.”