NEW DELHI: With their ongoing protests at Delhi borders completing 40 days, the agitating farm unions have planned to intensify the agitation and spread it all over the country. The unions have planned intensive mass contact programmes in every district even as the next round of talks with the Centre is slated for January 8.
While tractor march on both eastern and western peripheral expressways around Delhi are planned for Thursday, the farmer unions will hold ‘Jan Jagran Abhiyan’ during January 7-20 through protest marches, ‘jeep jathas’ and ‘cycle jathas’ in every district, said P Krishna Prasad, AIKSCC working group member. He said the plan is to enlist support of all states, while farmers of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand have been leading the blockade at Delhi borders since November 2.
“The more time the Centre government takes to decide on our demand, it gives us more time to spread the agitation to more people,” Krishna said.
On the day of Lohri, the unions have decided to burn copies of the three farm laws in every district. On January 18, Mahila Kisan Diwas will be celebrated across the country with rallies planned by women farmers.
On Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose’s birth anniversary on January 23, the farmers will hold protest demonstrations outside Raj Bhavans in all states. On January 26, farmers will mark the Republic Day by holding parades in the national capital as well as states.
Krishna said boycott of products of Ambani and Adani groups will be intensified. “The people who have been talking to us on behalf of the Centre government have no authority, the real authority lies with corporates and hence we will hit them, since they have been exploiting the agriculture sector for a long time now… this is a new Independence struggle,” he said.