CHANDIGARH — Hours after talks between the Punjab government led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and farm unions under the umbrella of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) failed, raids were being conducted on Tuesday at residences of farmer leaders, including Joginder Singh Ugrahan.
Some have been detained ahead of a weeklong protest by the farmers, starting in Chandigarh on March 5.
Talks to discuss farmers’ demands broke down midway on Monday evening, with farmer leaders claiming a “livid” Chief Minister Mann “walking out of the meeting in a huff without a provocation”.
After the meeting, the SKM leaders announced they would go ahead with their call for a massive sit-in protest in Chandigarh.
Joginder Singh Ughrahan, president of Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ekta-Ughrahan), said the discussions with the Chief Minster were going on smoothly. “After discussions on eight-nine out of our 18 demands, Mann said he had an infection in his eye for which he needed to go,” he told the media. “The CM then asked us about our plans for the March 5 protest, to which we replied that the discussions were pending and we will take call on our plan to protest after that,” said Ughrahan, adding the CM got upset and left the meeting asking “us to resort to protest”.
Later, Chief Minister Mann said his doors “are always open for talks with the farmers but inconvenience and harassment of the public in the name of agitation should be avoided”.
Interacting with the farmers at a meeting here, the Chief Minister added the “government is always ready to resolve the issues pertaining to various sections of society through negotiations so that trouble to the common man through railway or road blockades must be avoided”.
The Chief Minister added that though protest is the democratic right of the farmers, they should also think that it is bringing huge loss to the state.
CM Mann made an appeal to the farmers to avoid such tactics that create discord among society. However, farmer leader Balbir Singh Rajewal accused the Chief Minister of trying to threaten them at the meeting. Besides the implementation of the agriculture policy, the demands of the BKU (Ugrahan) include the release of land to landless labourers and the debt waiver for farmers and labourers. –IANS
