The ongoing farmers' protests in Haryana and Punjab have intensified with tractor marches and dharnas held by various farmer unions in solidarity with the agitating farmers. The Bhartiya Kisan Union (Charuni) and the BKU (Ekta Ugrahan) took out tractor march and organised demonstrations to press the Centre to address the farmers' demands.
Ahead of the fourth round of talks scheduled for February 18, Sunday, Punjab Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee leader Sarvan Singh Pandher said, “The entire country is looking towards PM Modi to gather up the courage and take a firm decision on MSP and loan interest waiver. We hope to get good news from tomorrow’s meeting. We haven’t yet taken back our decision to go to Delhi, but if the central government accepts our demands, the matter will be solved here itself. The ball is in the government’s court.”
Pandher called on the Centre to bring an ordinance providing a legal guarantee to MSP. “If it (Centre) brings out an ordinance, it can bring it overnight, if it wants to. If the Government wants a resolution of the farmers’ protest, then it should bring an ordinance with immediate effect that it will enact a law on MSP, then discussions can proceed further,” he told reporters at the Shambhu border.
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In Haryana, the Gurnam Singh Charuni-led faction conducted tractor marches in several places, including Kurukshetra, Yamunanagar, and Sirsa. Charuni announced plans for a 'mahapanchayat' on February 18 to discuss the next course of action in support of the farmers' agitation.
Meanwhile, in Punjab, BKU (Ekta Ugrahan) staged dharnas outside the residences of senior BJP leaders, including former Punjab CM Amarinder Singh and BJP's Punjab unit chief Sunil Jakhar. The farmer body also held protests at 21 toll plazas across 13 districts in the state.
Punjab BJP chief Sunil Jakhar on Saturday said, "I am sure demands and issues raised by our farmers are of very serious nature and their resolution is necessary through understanding and dialogue.”
The protests coincide with the fifth day of the 'Delhi Chalo' march, led by the Samyukta Kisan Morcha and the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha. The farmers, stationed at the Shambhu and Khanauri points of the Punjab-Haryana border, continue to demand action from the Centre on their various demands.
The BKU leader Rakesh Tikait announced that farmers would stage dharnas in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, and Uttarakhand on February 21 to press their demands.
Meanwhile, the Haryana government on Saturday extended the ban on mobile internet and bulk SMS services in Ambala, Kurukshetra, Kaithal, Jind, Hisar, Fatehabad and Sirsa districts by two more days till February 19 in the wake of the farmers' agitation.
The farmers' demands include the implementation of the Swaminathan Commission's recommendations, pension for farmers and farm labourers, farm debt waiver, no increase in electricity tariff, withdrawal of police cases, justice for victims of the 2021 Lakhimpur Kheri violence, reinstatement of the Land Acquisition Act-2013, and compensation for families of farmers who died during previous agitations.