Haryana Deputy CM threatens to resign if he fails to secure minimum support price guarantee for farmers

NEW DELHI – Ignoring fresh appeal from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, farmers on Saturday declared to intensify their agitation. They vowed to expand it to a ‘pan-India’ scale, and appealed to all sections of society, including girls and women, to join them. As part of their plan, thousands of farmers from Rajasthan will take out a tractor rally to block the Delhi-Jaipur highway on Sunday.

Protesters will also hold a nationwide demonstration at all district offices on Monday and hold a hunger strike from 8 am to 5 pm, leaders representing 32 different farmer unions made the declarations at a press conference at Singhu border in Delhi.

“We have decided to expand this movement pan India,” said Kisan Sangharsh Samiti President Kawalpreet Singh Pannu.

The prime minister assured farmers that the reforms in the agrarian sector were aimed at helping them. Speaking at the annual meeting of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry in New Delhi, he said: “Reforms will help draw investment in agriculture and benefit farmers.”

But the agitating farmers are not convinced. They are not ready to settle anything less than withdrawal of the three laws, namely the Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020; the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020; and The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.

On Saturday, more than 1,000 policemen were posted on Gurgaon’s border with Delhi and 3,500 policemen in Faridabad to block the movement of protesters after they said they will occupy Delhi-Jaipur highway. Police in large numbers also stopped groups of hundreds of farmers from blocking the main highway from Delhi to Agra.

Dramatic visuals showed protesters – backed by the Bharatiya Kisaan Union – shouting slogans after they occupied toll plazas on highways, allowing vehicles to pass without paying toll fee. Some farmers were detained on the expressway to Agra, news agency AFP reported.

Pannu, the Sangharsh Samiti leader, said that farmers will move from Rajasthan’s Shajapur to Delhi borders blocking the Delhi-Jaipur route on Sunday and all District Collector offices would become the Centre of the protest the following day. Announcing that all the leaders of 32 unions would sit on a day-long hunger strike at the Singhu border protest site from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on December 14, Pannu sought support from other sections of society.

“We request our sisters and mothers to become part of the protest. We are arranging for the seating, sleeping and hygiene facilities for women protesters. We appeal the girls and women across India to join the protest.”

He, however, made it clear “we want to keep this movement as peaceful as it can.”.

The farm leader said “we have already rejected the proposal of the government, telling it about the lapses in the law”.

“The government had been saying since the beginning that these laws are for the benefit of farmers but we had told them that it is for the corporate houses,” Pannu said.

It was the 17th day of farmers’ protest on Delhi’s different borders. Thousands of farmers, who began their sit-in from Singhu border on November 26, are braving the chilly winter under open skies. The protest has hampered the supply chain to the national capital.

Meanwhile, Deputy Chief Minister of Haryana and leader of Jananayak Janata Party (JJP) Dushyant Chautala met three Union ministers on Saturday. According to ANI, he said he would resign from his post if he is unable to secure the minimum support price (MSP) guarantee for farmers.

JJP is an ally of BJP in Haryana. His continued support is crucial for the survival of the state government. In his meetings with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar and Railway Minister Piyush Goyal, Chautala demanded resumption of dialogue with the farmers and said the next 24 to 48 hours are very crucial.