Bharatiya Kisan Union activists participate in a protest in front of Deputy Commissioner's office against the three farm reform bills, in Bathinda, on Wednesday, November 18, 2020. PTI

Sukhmeet Bhasin

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, November 18

A large number of farmers, labourers and women from Bathinda district on Wednesday staged a dharna in front of the office of the Deputy Commissioner against the ‘anti-farmer’ laws brought by the Modi government at the Centre.

Addressing the protest in the city, BKU Ekta Ugrahan district president Shingara Singh Mann, state secretary Harinder Kaur Bindu and general secretary Harjinder Singh Buggi said the three agitating farmers’ centres in Punjab are BKU Ekta Ugrahan, the forum of 30 organisations and the Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee. The union government is taking advantage of the lack of coordination amongst them in their fight to uphold the 5 black laws and is trying to suppress the current historic farmers struggle, they said.

Union Minister of State Som Prakash’s statement in yesterday’s newspapers about the possibility of the talks reaching a conclusion adds to this suspicion. An appeal would also be made to all the farmers’ organisations to strengthen the co-ordination between the three struggling centres to defeat such government maneuvers, they added.

They said that 31 agitating farmers’ organisations of Punjab have taken a stand against the Modi government for repealing of three anti-agriculture laws and Power Amendment Act 2020 introduced by the Union government and these laws are being opposed by farmers all over India. Instead of repealing this law despite the protests of the farmers and instead of taking care of the straw, the government issued a new ordinance imposing a fine of Rs 1 crore and five-year sentence.

They said the Modi government at the Centre had tried to implement the law by setting up a committee of representatives of the agitating farmers’ organisations, the Centre and the Punjab government to quell the struggle. The BJP is dreaming of forming the next government in Punjab, they added.

They further said the “arrogant” decision of the Centre to enforce this law by force would be shattered by the farmers and other working people of Punjab.

Demonstrators also took out protest march from the Deputy Commissioner’s office to Gol Diggi, urging people of the city to join the struggle for the repeal of these laws.

They also demanded the repeal of these five laws and the strengthening of the public distribution system to provide rations to the needy people of all villages and towns, releasing all the innocent writers, intellectuals, democratic activists, journalists and students imprisoned immediately without any condition.