The protesting farmers’ unions have also alleged that the crackdown on them and evictions from their encampments at Shambhu and Khanauri, bordering Punjab and Haryana, were done at the “behest of corporate lobbies and industrialists”.
New Delhi The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (Non-political) and Kisan Mazdoor Morcha, two organisations spearheading the farm protests, held several meetings on Thursday following a crackdown and arrest of their leaders on Wednesday.
“We have decided to launch a nationwide protest and chakka jam (blockade of traffic) and hold demonstrations outside the offices of district commissioners across Punjab. We will finalise a new phase of protests soon. We demand immediate release of all farmers taken away by police,” Gurdeep Singh Chahal, the media coordinator for the farm outfits, said.
The protesting farmers’ unions have also alleged that the crackdown on them and evictions from their encampments at Shambhu and Khanauri, bordering Punjab and Haryana, were done at the “behest of corporate lobbies and industrialists”.
Punjab police on Wednesday detained farm leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal, who is on an indefinite hunger strike, and Kisan Mazdoor Morcha chief Sarvan Singh Pandher when they were returning to their protest camps after holding the latest round of talks with three Union ministers – Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Pralhad Joshi and Piyush Goyal – in Chandigarh.
“The police action was done at the behest of traders and industrialists. Punjab finance minister (Harpal Singh Cheema) has himself told the media that the farm protests were causing inconvenience to traders. This is a betrayal by the Aam Aadmi Party, which is acting as the‘B team’ of the Bharaytiya Janata Party,” Chahal, an aide of Dallewal, said.
The farm unions want the Modi government to bring a law that will make it compulsory for traders and buyers of farm produce to pay federally fixed minimum support prices to farmers for 23 notified crops. MSPs are rates set by the Centre at 1.5 times the cost of cultivation to serve a price signal for markets, but they are largely notional for most crops, barring cereals.
Two years after farm unions ended their massive protest on Delhi’s borders, they are back on the streets demanding guaranteed prices for their crops. Farmers are an important voting bloc and resolving their demand for assured MSP is one of the biggest challenges for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government.
On Thursday, the police cleared both the protest camps at Shambhu and Khanauri, opening the highways blockaded by farm unions for over a year. The farmers had been camping at these sites since February 2024.
Chahal said the farm unions were “surprised and shocked” by the sudden police action. He said several police vehicles followed Dallewal and other farm leaders when they were returning from their meeting with the Union ministers.
“Police teams waylaid our leaders and detained them using force a few kilometers ahead of Shambhu border. The Punjab government has stabbed us in the back,” Chahal added.
The farm leader said Dallewal’s health was deteriorating because he of his fast until death and following his detention at a police facility, he had stopped taken water.
Another farm leader, Sukhwinder Singh Sabhra, who took part in Wednesday’s meeting with the three central ministers, alleged that the AAP-led Punjab government was using the pretext of disruption of trade activities to evict the farmers. “Farmers haven’t hampered trade. This is just an excuse,” he said.