M A I N   N E W S

BKU rejects brokered pact
Shubhadeep Choudhury
Tribune News Service

Talking to TNS earlier, Mr Ghasiram Nain, President of the BKU in Haryana, said the agitation would be withdrawn if the state government released arrested BKU activists and also withdrew the cases against them. He also demanded Rs 10 lakh as compensation for the families of farmers killed in the police firing since May 19. “At least one person from their families must be given a government job,” he said.

The power bill arrears pending with the farmers must be written off and the rate of agricultural tariff must be brought down. “Since they do not supply us adequate power, they have no right to charge us in full rate,” Mr Nain said.

Mr Bijender Singh, chief of the BKU unit of Hisar district, who is playing a crucial role in this movement, showed signs of the BKU hardening its stand in the wake of the death of the farmers. He said the situation would not have come to what it was now had the state government released the BKU activists on bail on May 28. The case, which came up in a Jind court on May 28, the deadline fixed by the BKU for the release of its members while releasing seven persons taken as hostages, was rescheduled for hearing on June 6 due to the failure of the state government to send its representative to the court.

Mr Bijender Singh, who was camping in Kandela, the epicentre of the ongoing agitation in the state, said there was no question of withdrawing the agitation even if the BKU members were released. “We are not going to seek bail anymore”, he said. He added that government must fulfill the assurance given to the farmers regarding the free supply of power and water.

Mr Yuvraj Malik, a farmer from Kurwa village of Mujaffarnagar, said while campaigning in UP for his party the INLD, Mr Om Prakash Chautala had claimed that the farmers of Haryana were being given free supply of power and water. Mr Malik said a jatha of about 150 farmers from Mujaffarnagar and Meerut had come to Jind to lend support to the agitation. “Some of us are in Kandela, while others have been sent to Gulkani and other areas”, he said.

A political outfit today visited Kandela in support of its movement. Mr Inderjit Singh, state Secretary of the CPM visited Kandela to extend support to the BKU. “This movement is reflecting the pent-up anger of the peasants who have been pushed to the wall by the withdrawal of subsidies on various inputs needed for the farm sector”, he said. Stating that the government must negotiate with the farmers, he said had the state government implemented the Kandela agreement, the agitation would have never occurred.

Meanwhile, the scene at Gulkani village where four farmers lost their lives in the police firing yesterday, remained tense and gloomy. Three of them were from the neighbouring Rajpura village and one from Gulkani. All four were shot near Gulkani. Bijender, a 22-year-old youth who was a painter and got married on May 22, who was shot yesterday was from Gulkani. Dilbag (35), Prakash (40) and Maha Singh (60) were from Rajpura.

There was blood on various spots in the village, including fields. The villagers claimed that the police had chased the villagers and shot them. Two police vehicles, charred during the incident, had been left by the police on the spot. The bodies of the four villagers were brought from Rohtak after an autopsy.

At Gulkani, an assembly of nine villages has been called tomorrow to decide the future course of action.

Mr Nain turned down an offer by the Haryana Kishan Sangharsh Samiti to mediate between the government and the BKU. If any talks were to be held, they must be held between him, Mr Chautala, and a BKU delegation, he said.