Farm leader Dallewal detained ahead of fast at Khanauri border
The situation is on the boil at Khanauri border after the police detained farmer leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal.
The farmer leader, who was scheduled to launch his indefinite fast today, was detained during the wee hours while he was sleeping in an enclosure located near Khanauri border.
Soon, he was rushed to Dayanand Medical College and Hospital (DMC&H) for medical check-up where Dallewal refused to eat or drink.
Following the state government’s nod, Punjab Police teams, consisting of 200 personnel from the two districts of Patiala and Sangrur, swung into action and forcibly took farm leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal “for a medical check-up”.
Police teams reached the makeshift hutment of Dallewal and the entire operation was kept a secret. “We never wanted to have any face-off with the protesting farmer union members and the whole operation was kept under wraps. It was conducted within 20 minutes without any interference from anyone,” said a senior official.
Dallewal has been kept in a room in the emergency ward and the hospital has been turned into a garrison with a huge number of policemen deployed both outside and inside the hospital. No one is allowed to meet the farmer leader as he has been kept under strict medical observation.
The detention caused massive outrage among farmers and a huge number of activists owing allegiance with Sanyukt Kisan Morcha (Non-Political) converged at Khanauri border. Many farmer activists were stopped midway by the police on the pretext of checking.
Leaders like Fatehgarh Sahib MP Amar Singh and senior Congress leader Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, trader union and farmer unions condemned Dallewal’s detention.
As protesting farmers continued to gather at Khanauri border, another farmer leader, Sukhjeet Singh Hardo Jhande, launched indefinite fast.
Centre not involved: Bittu
BJP minister Ravneet Singh Bittu posted on his X handle that the detention of Dallewal has been orchestrated by the Bhagwant Mann government. Bittu stated, “No central agency is involved in his arrest. It is purely the work of the state police, aimed at shifting the blame onto the Centre to divert attention from the real issue. The central government always works for the welfare of farmers and does not engage in such tactics.”
Farmer leader Sarwan Singh Pandher has issued a 10-day ultimatum to the Centre for initiating talks with farmers to resolve their issues by sitting across the table.
“The farmer struggle has reached a decisive stage. We expect the Centre to sit and discuss the issue. Otherwise from December 6, jathas of farmers will start marching towards Delhi,” said Pandher.
He was extremely critical of Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann. “We are really disappointed. I must say CM Mann has got some really bad advisers. The CM used to say that he is with farmers and is representing their issues with the Centre as their lawyer. Then why was Dallewal detained? Our conflict is with the Centre and not the state. Even Capt Amarinder Singh, who was the then Chief Minister during the first farmer agitation of 2020, was never directly involved in the issues of farmers.”
Meanwhile, some activity was witnessed on Shambhu border of National Highway-44 as labourers were seen using a hammer to break one of the concrete slabs bordering the bridge. However, no official statement was issued. Witnessing the activity, few farmers started advancing towards the border raising slogans. Seeing this, the work was stopped and paramilitary personnel took position. In no time, policemen who are also deployed at Shambhu also reached the spot.
(With inputs from Aman Sood and Nikhil Bharadwaj)
