Farmers leave for Fatehgarh Sahib, set to march towards Delhi today
Manmeet Singh Gill
Amritsar, February 12
A day ahead of the march towards Delhi, a massive group of farmers left for Fatehgarh Sahib from Beas here on Monday. A cavalcade of farmers led by Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee general secretary Sarwan Singh Pandher had over one thousand tractors. The protesters also included a large number of women.
The farmer leaders stated that they would stay at Fatehgarh for the night and would move towards Delhi on Tuesday morning. The trolleys were covered with tarpaulin sheets and mattress were kept inside them so that farmers could sleep and take rest in them.
Each of the trolleys also had ration for cooking langar on the way. The experience of the farmers during the previous Delhi morcha is coming handy this time in organizing such a mass movement of persons and goods.
Even as most of the unions, which had participated in the previous morcha in Delhi, are not united this year due to various political issues, the support of farmers for the cause has not thinned as they feel that the government had cheated them.
Political pundits observed that the enthusiasm of the farming community towards the Delhi morcha might force other unions to change their stance. Sarwan Singh Pandher, general secretary, KMSC, said, “Today BKU (Doaba) has lent support to the protest. We appeal to all the farmer unions to come and join the protest.” He said they were are hopeful that other unions too would soon feel the need to reach Delhi.
Pandher said farmers would move peacefully. He added that the government was trying to gag the voice of farmers by installing barricades, suspending the internet services and imposing a curfew like situation in Haryana. He said the farmers were determined to wage a long battle and would not end their protest till their demands regarding legal guarantee for MSP, implementation of Swaminathan Commission report, sacking of cabinet minister Ajay Mishra Tenny, justice in the Lakhimpur Kheri violence case and others are accepted.
