Protests across the nation. Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), the umbrella body of 40 protesting farmer unions, claim their call for ‘Chakka Jam’ got huge support across the country, which proves that farmers all over India are united against the three central farm laws. Darshan Pal, a farmer leader, said the unions have conveyed to the government that its proposal of keeping the laws on hold for about 18 months is unacceptable and hence, it has to come up with a new proposal for farmers.
Left parties and their front organisations on Saturday organised sit-in demonstrations instead of the ‘chakka jam’ against the three farm laws in Assam and Tripura.
In Assam, the Communist Party of India-Marxist Central Committee member Suprakash Talukdar said that the Left parties along with the front organisations have organised sit-in protests at around 12 places across the BJP-ruled state.
The protest demonstrations were held for several hours in every place expressing solidarity with the farmers and demanding immediate withdrawal of the three farm laws. “We would continue to organise different types of protests against the three farm legislations,” Talukdar told the media.
The Assam police subsequently arrested several hundred protesters who took part in the demonstrations. In another BJP-ruled state Tripura, the Left parties held similar protests in all 8 districts and in many sub-divisions against the the three farm laws and expressed solidarity with the farmers’ agitations in Delhi and other places in the country.
All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) Tripura state unit secretary Pabitra Kar said that the leaders and members of the Left parties in the next 15 days would go to farmers’ homes and apprise them about the harmful aspects of the three farm laws and the BJP government’s “motivated” intentions against the interests of the farmers and in favour of the corporates.
CPI-M central committee member and veteran tribal leader Aghore Debbarma, RSP leader Gopal Das, CPI leader Rashbihari Ghosh besides Kar addressed the protest demonstrations in Agartala.
Several farmers, Dalit activists and Left supporters were detained across Karnataka.
Traffic across the state was not affected but as this was a weekend and several people knew about this agitation in advance, it did not affect normal life much and that too it was called between 12 to 3 p.m.
Several agitating farmers in Bengaluru’s northern suburb of Yelahanka were detained for blocking the highway for over two hours.
Police also detained several farmer leaders including Kuruburu Shantakumar and protesting farmers to clear the traffic.
The protests also saw the detention of some of the demonstrators as the police tried to clear the roads for traffic movement. Politician Vatal Nagaraj, who joined the farmers, was also detained from Mysore Bank Circle.
Many office goers in Bengaluru reached their offices a bit early in the morning in anticipation that farmers’ agitation might throw traffic out of gear, but except in a few parts on the fringe of the city, traffic movement was normal.
The ‘chakka jam’ protest was more effective in rural parts, where a high number of farmers came out and cooked food on the roads, while some activists sang patriotic songs as well as sang ‘bhajans’ (devotional songs) to keep the agitators engaged.
The demonstrations took place in Bengaluru, Mysuru, Kolar, Koppal, Bagalkote, Tumakuru Davangere, Hassan, Haveri, Shivamogga, Chikkaballapura, and other places.
In some districts like Belgavi, women activists also came out in large numbers and protested. At Chitradurga activists formed a human chain and shouted slogans against the farm laws and the Union government. In several districts in north Karnataka, even artists and cooks came out in support of the farmers and used roads as their canvas to depict how the farm laws can harm farmers.
Condemning the agitations, Union Minister for Chemical and Fertilisers D.V. Sadananda Gowda told reporters that the accusations made by the farmers were “wrong” and said Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has implemented the recommendations of Swaminathan Committee to address the agrarian distress and farmers’ suicides.
Thousands of farmers, mainly from Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, have been camping at several Delhi border points since November last year, demanding that the Union government repeal the three farm laws and legal guarantee of minimum support price (MSP) for their crops.
Farmers protesting against the Centre’s new agricultural legislations took out a bullock cart rally in Telangana.
The rally on the Hayathnagar national highway saw the participation of the Congress, CPI and CPI(M) workers and several other activists, carrying the Tricolour and blaring out revolutionary songs.
Congress supporters led by Malreddy Ramreddy and Anil Kumar Yadav joined the protest under the Pradesh Congress Committee.
The Left parties members were seen carrying placards and party flags on the Vijayawada-Hyderabad highway as part of the protest against the Centre’s farm laws.
The protesters were later dispersed due to massive traffic jams at several points in the city. (IANS)