With tens of thousands of farmers heading for the State borders of Delhi to protest against the Centre’s farm laws, scores of farmers and farm labourers are all set to march to Delhi from Punjab in the coming week to ensure the ongoing agitation does not lose its steam.
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Bharatiya Kisan Union-Ekta-Ugrahan (BKU-U) and Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee (KMSC) have announced that batches of farmers and farm labourers from different parts of Punjab will start moving towards Delhi so that the build-up at the borders keeps swelling.
“The sacrifices of the people who were martyred during the ongoing agitation will not go waste. These sacrifices have made people more determined to take the struggle to its logical end. In the coming week, gatherings would be held on December 20 in the villages of Punjab to pay homage to these martyrs and the memorial processions would continue on December 21, 22 and 23. After paying homage to the martyrs at the village-level, a block-level tribute function would be held on December 24. On December 26, a contingent of 15,000 protesters will march from the Khanauri border, and on December 27, another 15,000 farmers will start the march from Dabwali,” said Sukhdev Singh, general secretary of BKU(U).
BKU(U) president Joginder Singh said that a ‘Delhi-Chalo’ campaign committee has been formed by the outfit to strengthen the Delhi morcha (rally). “This committee will organise activities to mobilise people to go to Delhi as well as to strengthen the ongoing morchas in Punjab,” he said.
Mr. Singh said the BKU(U) would stand firm for the complete repeal of the farm laws, besides government procurement of all crops in all the States at Minimum Support Price as a legal right.
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Sarvan Singh Pandher, general secretary of the Punjab unit of the KMSC said thousands of farmers associated with the outfit had already reached the Singhu-Kundli border in the past few days and several more will be joining the morcha in the next week. “On December 25, we are planning to send at least over a thousand tractor-trolleys from Gurdaspur district alone to Delhi,” he said.
“The government has been playing dirty games to weaken our agitation but we will not let it happen. Farmers from Punjab will continue to throng until the government accedes to our demands. We will not settle on anything less than the repealing of the three farm laws,” Mr. Sarvan told The Hindu.
