Bharat Bandh by farmers The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), a front of protesting farmer unions have appealed to the citizens of the country to make the 26 March Bharat Bandh a complete success.
Farmers have been protesting at Delhi’s borders against the Centre’s three new farm laws for nearly four months now.
According to a report in news agency PTI, the SKM has called for a Bharat Bandh on March 26, from 6 am to 6 pm. During this time all road and rail transport, markets and other public places will be closed across the country.
“We appeal to the people of the country to make this Bharat Bandh a success and honour their ‘Annadata’,” farmer leader Darshan Pal said.
Thousands of farmers, mostly from Punjab, Haryana, and western Uttar Pradesh, have been camping at the Delhi border points — Singhu, Tikri, and Ghazipur — for over four months, demanding the repeal of farm laws and a legal guarantee on the minimum support price (MSP) for their crops.
Earlier, Farmer leader Buta Singh Burjgill had said: “We will observe a complete Bharat bandh on March 26, when our protest against the three farm laws completes four months. The peaceful bandh will remain effective from morning till evening.”
Farmers’ leaders also said that copies of the new farm laws will be burnt during ‘Holika Dahan’ on March 28.
“The government thinks farmers will return home in summer. Earlier they thought we would go back home in peak winter. But we are not going anywhere, we have installed fans, etc there,” he said, addressing a farmer ‘Mahapanchayat’.
Anyone helping farmers in their agitation is facing harassment from government agencies, he alleged.
Claiming that the farm laws were not in favour of farmers, Tikait said the next target of the Centre is to create a situation where “farmers will eventually leave their land.”
“It is their plan to take away your land in the next 20 years,” he added. “Their target is to turn farmers into labourers, and once that happens, they will get cheap labourers from villages for factories,” Tikait said.
He also thanked farmers of Haryana and ‘khaps’ (caste council) of the state for supporting this agitation. Tikait also called upon the farmers to be ready to move towards Delhi whenever required.
Hundreds of farmers have been camping near Delhi’s borders since November last year, demanding that the Centre repeal the three contentious farm laws.
The farmer leader said that a nationwide movement against the farm laws has started and the youth have a big responsibility now.
Tikait said the country will be saved when slogans of “Jai Ram” and “Jai Bhim” are raised together. Enacted in September 2020, the three farm laws have been projected by the Centre as major reforms in the agriculture sector that will remove middlemen and allow farmers to sell their produce anywhere in the country.
The protesting farmers, on the other hand, have expressed apprehension that the new laws would pave the way for eliminating the safety cushion of the minimum support price and do away with the “mandi” (wholesale market) system, leaving them at the mercy of big corporates.
A meeting was organised at the collectorate chaired by ADM (City) Shailendra Kumar Singh on Wednesday to discuss the upcoming ‘Bharat Bandh’ call by farmers’ unions on March 26, officials said.
Participation in the countrywide ‘Bharat Bandh’ call given by the farmers’ unions on March 26 against the three farm laws would be optional for the traders, according to a few office-bearers.
General Secretary of Mahanagar Vyapar Mandal Ashok Chawla told PTI that the association would remain neutral during the ‘Bharat Bandh’.
No association would force anybody to close their shops or compel them to keep it open as traders are free to take decisions on their own, Chawla added.
In the meeting, all the problems regarding COVID-19, ‘Bharat Bandh’, and deposition of arms licenses during panchayat elections were discussed, he further said.
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