Rail Roko’s protest against three controversial new agricultural bills has been extended until September 29.
Chandigarh:
After a call to step up protests against the three controversial new farm bills, farmers in the Punjab – who also extended their “Rail Roko” agitation until September 29 – said they “were not being duped into error by the opposition ”and that they had read the fine print.
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi blames the opposition for pushing us. This is not correct. We read the ordinances (now the bills). The companies pushed Prime Minister Modi to introduce these changes. We are getting the support of farmers across the country. is a very big popular movement. It will have to repeal these bills, it will not be able to achieve these changes on the ground, “said Sarwan Singh Pandher, Secretary of State of Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Samiti, who translated the bills into Punjabi and distributed them to farmers.
Mr Pandher added that this will not allow any political party to share the stage with them during these protests.
At least 28 passenger trains were canceled as farmers in the Punjab continued to block the tracks on the third day of the “Rail Roko” unrest. However, the railways have yet to announce a revised schedule.
More than 265 groups affiliated with the All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordinating Committee and around 100 unaffiliated groups took part in Friday’s nationwide protests to demand the complete cancellation of the Agricultural Trade and Trade Bill (Promotion and facilitation), 2020; Farmers (empowerment and protection) Price and commodity insurance agreement (amendment) Bil.
Farmers, thousands of whom have blocked highways and railroads despite the coronavirus pandemic and scorching heat as part of Bharat Bandh, said they would step up the protests because the central government had not contacted them at all.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday called on BJP workers to “reach out to farmers … and inform them in very simplified language about the importance and intricacies of new agricultural reforms …”. The Prime Minister and his allies have argued that farmers are being “misled” by opposition parties over the provisions of the Farm Bill.
As farmers fear the bills will mean the loss of the price support system (MSP) and the entry of private actors who will endanger small and marginal farmers, the BJP-led central government said the bills will help farmers to get better prices by allowing them to sell their produce at markets and prices of their choice.
