There is seemingly no end to the agitation led by farmers’ bodies in Haryana. The farmers were met with a brutal lathi-charge on Thursday, September 10, even as a committee has been formed by the state government to mediate with them. The farmers have been protesting against the recent amendment to a central law and a set of structural changes to the agriculture sector – all promulgated through three ordinances. Farmers’ organisations in the state are mulling over intensifying their struggle in the days to come, with attempts being made to ensure greater participation in demonstrations by coordinating between different farmers’ groups.
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Bharatiya Kisan Union Haryana leader Gurnam Singh Churani addressing the farmers’ rally at Pipli in Kurukshetra. Image Courtesy – Twitter
Yudhvir Singh, national secretary of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU), pitched for various farmers’ bodies to come together and join the protest against ordinances which he described as “anti-farmer”. He said the moves would result in a “shift of balance against farmers and towards private groups and big traders.”
The Narendra Modi-led BJP government at the Centre cleared the ordinances – The Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Ordinance, 2020, The Farmers (Empowerement and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Ordinance, 2020, and The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Ordinance, 2020 – in the month of June, which also received Presidential assent. The ordinances are likely to be tabled in the upcoming monsoon session of the Parliament.
Thousands of people, not just farmers, but mandi workers have taken part in the demonstrations against the ordinances, Singh, who is also a member secretary of the Indian Coordination Committee of Farmers’ Movements (ICCFM), added. “Now there is a need to intensify the struggle, which is possible if different farmers’ bodies across the country coordinate,” he added.
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An individual dressed in civilian clothes was pictured to be hitting farmers with a baton at Haryana’s Pipli on Thursday. Image Courtesy – Twitter
Protests against the ordinances – which are being flayed for attracting the private sector to agriculture marketing – gathered steam recently after a BKU-led rally of farmers was not allowed to protest at Pipli in Haryana’s Kurukshetra, leading to the national highway being blocked – a clash with the police followed who resorted to lathi-charge.
A day later, in a video message posted on Facebook, BKU Haryana state leader Gurnam Singh Charuni accused the police of “bringing in” individuals dressed in civilian clothing who targeted the farmers heads with batons. Charuni, along with 300 other unidentified people, were reportedly booked for damaging public property and engaging in an “unlawful assembly”.
Leaders of the opposition parties, including the Congress and the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) came out in support of the farmers, accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) – Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) coalition government in the state of crushing the non-violent protest. In addition, other groups such as a industrial workers’ union in Manesar also condemned against the lathi-charge and demanded an investigation.
— source newsclick.in | 12 Sep 2020