Farmers’ protest: Police close borders, hurl teargas shells; Oppn leaders criticise BJP
Today morning, farmers from Punjab began their march towards Delhi—a march dubbed as ‘Delhi Chalo’—to demand the passing of legislation guaranteeing minimum support price (MSP) on crops.
Around 200 farmer unions, comprising approximately one lakh farmers from Haryana, Punjab, and Uttar Pradesh, began moving towards Delhi, in a worrying replay of the 2020-21 protests, in which dozens died and the city was blockaded for months, and which garnered a lot of international attention.
The farmers were blocked by Haryana Police (under a BJP government) at the Shambhu border, connecting Patiala district in Punjab to Ambala district in Haryana. The police lobbed teargas shells at the farmers when a group tried to breach the barricades.
At around the same time, the Delhi Police sealed the Tikri border in the north-west of the national capital region and the Singhu in the north, both connecting to Haryana, and on the route to Delhi the farmers are supposed to take.
These are the same routes the farmers moved through and occupied for several months after the passing of the three farm laws in 2020, which were withdrawn after about a year, in 2021, by Prime Minister Narendra Modi just a few months before the Punjab elections, which the Aam Aadmi Party won.
Top opposition leaders heavily criticised the government’s move to not let the protests happen and for not implementing MSP.
“Instead of suppressing their protest, BJP must focus on humbling their inflated egos, power-hungry ambitions, and inadequate governance that has harmed our nation. Remember, it’s these farmers who sustain us all, including the high and mighty. Let’s stand in solidarity with our farmers against the government’s brutality,’ tweeted Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee.
“What kind of ‘amritkal’ is this under the BJP that they are having to lob teargas shells?” tweeted Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav.
“The government that confers Bharat Ratna on MS Swaminathan and Chaudhary Charan Singh, the same government does injustice to farmers. Farmer organisations have three to four main demands. Their biggest demand is that the Swaminathan formula be implemented … MSP is not ‘Modi Selling Price’. MSP is ‘Minimum Support Price’ ,” said Congress communications chief Jairam Ramesh at a press conference.
Union Agricultural Minister Arjun Munda, in an interview to the news agency PTI, said the government has accepted most of the farmers’ demands and urged the farmers to have a structured discussion with the government on the issue of guaranteeing MSP.
