"Instead of going to open jail in Burari, we've decided that we will gherao Delhi by blocking 5 main entry points to Delhi," said Surjeet S Phul, President, BKU Krantikari (Punjab). (Express photo by Amil Bhatnagar)Farmers Protest Today Live Updates: With thousands of farmers continuing their protest against the Centre’s new agri laws, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday said they were for the welfare of farmers and called their agitation apolitical. Speaking to reporters, he said, “The new farm laws are meant for the welfare of farmers. After a long time the farmer is going to come out of a locked system. Whoever wants to oppose it politically let them do it. I have never said the farmers’ protest is political and would never say (that it is political).”
Farmers amassed on the borders of the national capital Sunday refused to move to the Burari Park in New Delhi, where the Centre has invited them for talks, and said they will stay put until they are allowed to go to Jantar Mantar to stage their protest. “We will never go to Burari Park. We have come to know that it is not a park but an open jail,” Surjeet Singh, state president of the Bhartiya Kisan Union Krantikari, said at a press conference at Delhi’s Singhu border. The farmers at the press conference also outlined their demands –– the three “anti-farmer and pro-corporates” central farm laws be repealed; MSP and the rate of buying crops should be guaranteed; the electricity ordinance be stopped; and the fine for stubble burning be done away with.
In other news, Prime Minister Narendra Modi also mentioned the farm laws in his monthly radio address ‘Mann ki Baat’ today. The prime minister asserted that these reforms have not only freed peasants from various shackles but have also bestowed on them new rights and opportunities. Meanwhile, security remains heightened at the Delhi-Haryana border at Tikri as farmers, stayed put at the Delhi border points for the fourth consecutive day today.
Farmers at the Delhi border, in Singhu, on Saturday. (Express Photo: Praveen Khanna)
Farmers at Shambhu Barrier in Ambala. (Photo by A. Aggarwal)
Hitting out at Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Sunday said developmental works in the state are stuck and the farmers are agitated, while the government has its "head bowed down before criminals".
"Instead of discharging constitutional duties, his (Adityanath's) mind is more engaged in going to other states as a star campaigner (for polls) and changing the name of cities," a statement issued by the Samajwadi Party quoted Yadav as saying.
The Samajwadi Party chief claimed the BJP government does not care for the farmers. "The government does not have any sympathy for the farmers. It is only worried about the corporate houses and how to fill their coffers and hold hostage the resources of the state," Yadav said. PTI
Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Sunday demanded the central government reconsider the three new farm laws against which farmers are staging protests. In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the chief minister said that even when GDP growth rate has been -7.5 per cent in the financial year 2020-21, the agriculture sector has increased by 3.4 per cent.
In these difficult times, Gehlot said, the farmers are making positive contribution to the economy and they should not be given such a reward. Gehlot demanded that PM Modi reconsider the agriculture laws to protect the interests of farmers and democratic values.
"When the country was celebrating Constitution Day on 26 November, the farmers were hit by sticks and water cannon. To prevent farmers from reaching Delhi to keep their demands, roads were dug and blockers were also installed.
"The central government tried to take away the right to protest against the farmers, which is not justified," Gehlot said. (PTI)
Delhi Home Minister Satyendar Jain on Sunday said the Centre should not set any conditions to hold talks with the agitating farmers who have been demanding that it repeal the new farm laws. His remarks come a day after Union Home Minister Amit Shah said the Centre was ready to hold discussions with farmers if they shift their protest to a designated place and vacate roads and highways, where they have been protesting.
"There should not be any conditions to talk to the farmers. The talks should take place immediately. They are the farmers of our country. They should be allowed to hold peaceful protests wherever they want," the minister told PTI. Farmers, representing over 30 farm bodies, had called Delhi Chalo march, demanding that the central government repeal the new farm laws, which, they said, should be replaced with another set of legislations after wider consultation with the stakeholders.
"These farmers have travelled hundreds of kilometers from their homes taking a lot of trouble. They want to voice their concerns. They have the right to express their views in a peaceful manner. It is a democracy," Jain said.
With thousands of farmers continuing their protest against the Centre's new agri laws, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday said they were for the welfare of farmers and called their agitation apolitical. Speaking to reporters, he said, "The new farm laws are
meant for the welfare of farmers. After a long time, the farmer is going to come out of a locked system. Whoever wants to oppose it politically let them do it. I have never said the farmers' protest is political and would never say (that it is political)."
Shah has already appealed to the protesting farmers to shift to the Burari ground in the national capital to stage their protests and said the Centre was ready to hold discussions with them as soon as they move to the designated place. (PTI)
Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Sunday said he would hold his Punjab counterpart Amarinder Singh responsible if farmers' gathering on the state's borders with Delhi leads to an aggravation of the COVID-19 situation in the state. Khattar made the assertion while pointing out that the Haryana government had only recently decided to limit the number of people attending social gatherings like marriages, religious and political functions to contain the recent surge in COVD-19 cases in Haryana.
With thousands of farmers from Punjab having reached Delhi borders forcing their way through Haryana on the call for protest against the three central farm laws, Khatar said he was surprised why the Punjab government encouraged the movement of such big gatherings amid the pandemic. "Who will be responsible if this disease has an impact here?" he asked, adding: "I will hold Punjab government responsible if the (Covid) situation (in Haryana) aggravates. Khattar, who has been engaged in a war of words with Amarinder Singh, reiterated that he had tried to talk to him on many occasions over the telephone on farmers' Delhi Chalo march, "but the latter is not accepting it now." (PTI)
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal asked the Centre to immediately and unconditionally hold talks with the farmers who continued to protest against the new agri laws for the fourth consecutive day on Sunday, staying put at the Singhu and Tikri border points of the national capital. The Aam Aadmi Party has supported the farmer's protest and its national convenor Kejriwal asked the Centre to immediately meet the farmers.
"The central government should talk to farmers immediately (and) unconditionally," he said in a tweet.
Senior Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Sunday slammed Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar for his remarks that the state's farmers have not participated in the stir against the new agri laws and warned that if farmers' problems are not resolved, a "bigger movement" will be undertaken. Khattar on Saturday alleged that some political parties and organisations are "sponsoring" the farmers' protest against the Centre's new farm laws and claimed that Haryana farmers have not participated in the stir.
Dismissing Khattar's claim, Hooda said the farmers of Haryana have been agitating against the three agricultural laws for many months and he has repeatedly urged the government to withdraw these laws or bring in a new law to guarantee minimum support price (MSP) for farmers.
"The chief minister should tell whether he does not consider the agitating farmers as residents of Haryana? If the farmers of Haryana are not part of the movement, then who did the government lathi-charge in Pipli? Who are the people who were detained by the Haryana Police before their Delhi march? Who where are the thousands of farmers against whom the Haryana government has filed cases," Hooda asked at a press conference. (PTI)
Hitting out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for reiterating that the new agri laws are beneficial for farmers, the Congress on Sunday said the insistence in support of the legislations shows that the government is "drunk with power" and is rigid even in reconsidering the laws. The Opposition party also demanded that Prime Minister Modi should immediately announce the suspension of the three "anti-agriculture" laws.
"The prime minister's obduracy, arrogance and rigidity in dealing with 62 crore farmers and farm labourers of India is writ large by his insistence today in the 'Mann ki Baat' that the three anti-farmer, anti-agricultre laws, forcibly passed in an illegal and unconstitutional manner, by Parliament, are correct," Congress' chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said at a press conference at the AICC headquarters here.
"For the prime minister to say that these three laws are absolutely right when lakhs and lakhs of farmers are sitting around Delhi agitating, demanding their withdrawal, shows that the Modi government is drunk with power and Prime Minister Modi does not care about the welfare of the farmers and farm labourers of India," he said. (PTI)
The Centre has once again appealed to the farmers who are agitating against the new agri laws to shift to a ground in Delhi's Burari and said a high-level team of Union Ministers is ready to hold talks with them at the capital's Vigyan Bhavan once they move to the designated place. Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla stated this in a letter to 32 farmers organisations sent on Saturday, the day Union Home Minister Amit Shah too had promised dialogue with them as soon as they shift to the ground.
In his letter in Hindi, Bhalla cited the cold conditions and the COVID-19 outbreak and said the farmers should move to the Burarai ground where adequate facilities have been made for them. He said that the farmers' organisations have called for the 'Delhi chalo' programme on November 26 and 27 following which a large number of farmers from Punjab and other parts of the country have reached the borders of Delhi.
He said the farmers have gathered along two major highways connecting Punjab and as a result, normal life and travel of common people have been affected. (PTI)
"We've decided that we won't allow any political party leader to speak on our stage, be it Congress, BJP, AAP or other parties. Our Committee will allow other organisations, who are supporting us, to speak if they follow our rules," said Surjeet S Phul, President, BKU Krantikari (Punjab)
Punjab farmers Sunday rejected Union home minister Amit Shah's proposal for a discussion on their grievances against the Centre's new farm laws. Addressing the press today, the farmers said that they will block Delhi from five entry points. They have also decided not to shift to the Burari ground in the national capital as it is not a park but an open jail. "Instead of going to open jail in Burari, we've decided that we will gherao Delhi by blocking 5 main entry points to Delhi," said Surjeet S Phul, President, BKU Krantikari (Punjab). The farmers also put forward four demands which include guaranteed MSP, scrapping of the three farm bills and fine for stubble burning.
With farmers of at least three states laying siege on Delhi borders in protest against the three central farm laws, the Uttar Pradesh opposition parties on Sunday hit out at the Centre, asking it to reconsider these laws.
"The farmers of the country are angry and agitated over the three farm laws enacted recently by the Centre. It would be better if the Centre reconsiders these laws enacted without forging any consensus with farmers," said Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati in a tweet in Hindi on Sunday.
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav too flayed the Centre, accusing it of seeking to mortgage the country to the rich. "Insulting farmers by calling them terrorists is the worst face of the BJP. The BJP, which favours the rich, is conspiring to mortgage farms, farming, small business, trading, roads, transportation and everything else to the rich," he too said in a Hindi tweet.
"If farmers are terrorists for the BJP, the BJP leaders and workers should pledge not to consume the food grown by them," he added. (PTI)
Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut on Sunday said farmers protesting against the Centre's new agri laws are being treated as if they are "terrorists", and it is sad that they are not being allowed to enter Delhi. The government should consider the farmers' demands sympathetically, Raut told reporters here. Thousands of farmers, protesting against three agriculture laws enacted by the Centre, have gathered at border points of the national capital as part of their 'Delhi Chalo' march.
"It is sad they are not being allowed to come to Delhi and are being treated as if they are terrorists and have come from outside the country. The government should consider the demands of farmers sympathetically," Raut said.
"Farm laws is one issue. Consider all other demands sympathetically. Different states are not doing well. It is up to the Centre to step in and help them," the Rajya Sabha member said. (PTI)
Farmers protesting against the Centre's three farm laws on Sunday decided not to shift to the Burari ground in the national capital and stay put at the Delhi borders. Thousands of farmers continued to protest at the Singhu and Tikri borders on the fourth consecutive day on Sunday.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah had on Saturday appealed to the farmers to shift to the Sant Nirankari ground in Burari that was offered to them for peaceful protests and said the Centre was ready to hold discussions with them as soon as they move to the designated place. "We have decided that we will stay put at the Delhi borders. We will not go to Burari," Bharatiya Kisan Union (Dakaunda) president Buta Singh Burjgill said over the phone.
The decision was taken by representatives of several farmers organisations, he said. Farmer leader Harmeet Singh Kadian, who is the president of BKU (Kadian), too said that the protesters will not shift to the Burari ground. (PTI)
The protesting farmers, including those from Punjab, may face legal action with Haryana Police lodging several FIRs against them for breaking police barricades to move to the national capital as part of their “Delhi Chalo” call.
Besides Ambala district, hundreds of farmers have been booked for rioting, unlawful assembly, obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions, damage to public property and provisions of the Disaster Management Act, 2005, in Panipat, Rohtak, Kaithal, Sirsa and other districts.
Terming them false, the Congress claimed the FIRs have been lodged against “20,000 farmers” at different police stations of Haryana. Senior Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala said lodging of an FIR against a youth, Navdeep Singh, who had climbed the water cannon to turn it off during farmers' stir in Ambala district on November 25, is “shameful”. “What type of justice is this? How a youth can be booked for attempt to murder charges for just turning off the water cannon which was used on farmers during cold?” Surjewala asked.
However, the police claim that the FIRs have been lodged only in those cases where any offence was committed or criminal force was used.
After Amit Shah's offer for talks, a group of farmers at the Singhu border will today address a press conference at 4 pm. During the presser, the farmers are likely to outline their further course of actions. Swaraj India founder, Yogendra Yadav, who is part of the seven-member Samyukt Kisan Morcha, the umbrella body of over three dozen farmer organisations, will also be present.
While Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar thanked farmers of his state for not becoming part of the Delhi Chalo march, farmers from Punjab expressed gratitude to people of the neighbouring state for helping them by going out of their way when they faced obstacles.
In one such incident, a large convoy of BKU (Ugrahan) was made to stay overnight at Meham Chaubisi - a cluster of 24 villages in Rohtak district. The commission agents at Meham Chaubisi’s Dana Mandi opened their shops and made arrangements for the farmers to sleep while some slept in the trolleys itself. The commission agents also served langar to farmers at night and in the morning.
Ashish Kumar, sarpanch of Fermana village, said, “I have a shop at the Dana Mandi. Like me, many other commission agents came out to help them. We will continue to help farmers if they come here as part of their Delhi Chalo march”.
Janak Raj Agarwal, a 55-year-old man, who helped to repair tractors free of cost at the Tikri border, died after the car in which he was sleeping caught fire. Blaming the government, Harinder Bindu, a farmer leader said, "He came to serve farmers in this agitation which is being done against Farm Acts. He was not even a farmer but still wanted to support us in his own way." Janak had come from Punjab on Friday evening and had serviced many tractors on Saturday.