Farmers Across India Unite To Protest Against Agri Reform Bills, Is The Government Listening?

From Punjab to Haryana, West Bengal, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu millions of farmers across the country are on the streets on Friday as they raise their voice against the Farm Bills passed by both Houses of Parliament last week.

Heavy police force have been deployed across states to deal with any untoward situation.

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In Punjab and Haryana where the protests are the strongest, even shopkeepers in most of the major towns have s shut their shops expressing solidarity with the farmers.

In a first-of-its-kind show of solidarity, 31 farmer organisations in Punjab announced a joint protest.

Reuters

Several trains have been suspended since Thursday as farmers began a three-day 'rail roko' campaign against the Bills.

Interestingly, many Punjabi singers have extended their support to the 'bandh' call given by farmers.

REUTERS

Popular Punjabi singer and actor Harbhajan Mann in a tweet said he along with several other artists would be participating in the protest.

Milde an Nabhe ??@BawaRanjit @KulwinderBilla1 @AvkashMann pic.twitter.com/q6g1zxmEkc

¡ª Harbhajan Mann (@harbhajanmann) September 25, 2020

In Haryana, activists of the Bharatiya Kisan Union activists along with sacked physical training instructors showed black flags to Agriculture Minister JP Dalal on Thursday in Mundlana village in Sonepat district.

Delhi Police tightens security at borders

The Delhi Police have tightened the security at the border areas in the wake of the Bharat Bandh.

Barricades have been put in areas bordering Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, and the vehicles entering Delhi are being checked. The Delhi Police and paramilitary forces have been deployed at the Singhu border and Karnal road (Haryana) as a precautionary measure.

REUTERS

Apart from border areas, the Delhi Police is also vigilant for the possible snap protests in Delhi. The Delhi Police earlier said that no demonstrations would be allowed in the national capital till September 30, citing an earlier order of the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA).

High alert sounded in Western UP

A high alert has been sounded in western Uttar Pradesh for Friday when farmers' groups and opposition political parties have organised 'Bharat Bandh'.

Though no major farmer organization has given a call for protest in Uttar Pradesh, security has been beefed up along the Uttar Pradesh-Delhi-Punjab-Haryana border as a precautionary measure.

In Bihar, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav on Friday led a 'tractor march' on the Patna roads.

A procession of around 50 tractors followed the Rashtriya Janata Dal leader, with his party supporters shouting slogans against the NDA government over the Bills.

Farmers in Karnataka staged demonstrations across the state to protest the 'anti-farmer' policies of the central and state governments.

BCCL

A large number of ryots from various parts of the state flocked to the state capital to take part in the demonstrations to register their protest against the amendments to the Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee Act and the Karnataka Land Reforms Act.

Amendment to APMC Act would allow farmers to sell their produce directly to any purchaser outside APMC or in other APMCs.

The protesters called these amendments 'anti-farmer' and alleged that some people in power brought them to convert their black money into white.

In Tamil Nadu, the protest was led by Tamil Nadu Farmers' Association President P Ayyakannu.

BCCL

The farmers held their protest outside the Collectorate in Trichy while carrying human skulls in their hands. They demanded that the bills should not be made into law.

In Tambaram, farmers and members of the Communist Party of India-Marxist also protested against the bills.