Cracks appeared in the alliance of farmers’ groups leading the ongoing “gaon bandh,” or village shutdown, on its fourth day. At least five farmer unions in Punjab have decided to discontinue the strike from June 6. A final decision will be taken after a meeting of the core committee of farmers’ unions on Tuesday morning, leaders said.
These unions are part of the Rashtriya Kisan Mahasangh, an umbrella body of 130 groups, which gave the call for the protest along with Kisan Ekta Manch, to draw attention to the widespread agrarian distress.
“We have decided to call off the strike from June 6 as there have been incidents of spilling milk and vegetables on roads in the past couple of days, which we disapprove of,” Mr. Balbir Singh Rajewal, president of Bharatiya Kisan Union (Rajewal), told The Hindu in Chandigarh. Farmers’ outfits, he said, had a meeting with representatives of the Progressive Dairy Farmers’ Association, after which the decision to discontinue the strike was taken.
The five farmers unions, which have decided to pull out are Bharatiya Kisan Union (Rajewal), BKU (Lakhowal), BKU (Sidhpur), Indian Farmers’ Association and BKU (Kadian). “Several milkmen have suffered huge losses due to forcible spilling of milk... Besides, there have been instances of scuffles involving some anti-social elements, which is bringing a bad name to farmer outfits,” he said.
In Delhi, the Mahasangh’s leadership blamed big dairy farmers and the State police. “Some big dairy farmers attacked the protesters, even firing at them. The police also lathicharged our farmers,” Abhimanyu Kohar, spokesperson of the Mahasangh, told The Hindu.
In Mandsaur itself, the Mahasangh’s commemorative event will be held on June 8, partly because the local administration refused permission for a protest on June 6, and partly to disassociate itself from Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s planned rally on that date. “Both the BJP and the Congress are anti-farmers. We do not want our protest to be confused with either of them,” Mr. Kohar said.