The continuing protest by farmers upon the Centre’s new farm laws seems to be far from over as the heads of all farmer unions will now be observing a one-day hunger strike today. The strike from 8 am to 5 pm today is part of the farmers’ plan to intensify their agitation.
The Delhi-Jaipur highway was closed by the protesting farmers who began a tractor march from Shahjahanpur on the Rajasthan-Haryana border thus leading to its shutting down for about three hours. Thousands of farmers on their way to Delhi, meanwhile, joined the Rewari border of Haryana, where the police blocked both sides of the Delhi-Jaipur highway to stop them from entering the state. A nationwide protest has been designed against the laws which farmers say will withdraw their income and give private firms the upper hand in the purchase of produce.
Kisan Sangharsh Samiti President Kawalpreet Singh Pannu said, “We request our sisters and mothers to become part of the protest. We are arranging for the seating, sleeping, hygiene facilities for women protesters. We appeal to the girls and women across India to join the protest. We want to keep this movement as peaceful as it can.” The farmers say they are willing to continue talks with the Centre, so long as the talks begin with the repeal of the controversial laws. They have also accused the Centre of trying to sow discord within their ranks by re-casting the protest as engineered by the opposition, involving separatist elements from Punjab and as part of a “conspiracy by China and Pakistan” – and weaken its united front.
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