Ahead of a proposed ‘mahapanchayat’ at Karnal on September 7, the Congress on Monday urged the Central and the Haryana governments to remove section 144 and allow farmers to peacefully carry on with their protests.
In a statement, Congress general secretary (organisation) K.C. Venugopal said the State government should act against the officials responsible for the “brutal lathi charge”on farmers at Karnal on August 28 and keep the Internet services functional in the area.
“The BJP governments at the Centre, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh are busy crushing and suppressing the Gandhian ways of farmers’ protests instead of rendering justice to the farmers,” he stated.
“The Modi government at the Centre and the Manohar Lal Khattar government in Haryana should shed their stubbornness and arrogance. They should remove section 144, restore Internet services and allow the farmers to peacefully hold a ‘mahapanchayat’. The Congress demands that an FIR to be registered against the guilty officials and start a dialogue with the farmers,” he added.
Ahead of the proposed ‘mahapanchayat’ by the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), the Haryana government had deployed upto 40 additional companies, planned to suspend mobile Internet services by Monday midnight and divert traffic on National Highway 44, connecting Delhi to Chandigarh.
