‘Not free in our state,’ rue Punjab farm leaders after being detained

Aakanksha N Bhardwaj

Jalandhar, May 24

Upset over being detained ahead of the PM Narendra Modi’s visit to Jalandhar, the farmers have expressed disappointment with the Punjab Government too.

“Punjab sarkar vi naal hi rali hoyi hai, asi te Punjab vich vi gulam bann gaye,” Bhartiya Kisan Union (Doaba) president Manjit Rai blamed the state government. Rai is one of the leaders who was detained by the police ahead of PM’s rally today.

He said, “First we were stopped from going to Delhi and now we cannot even move in our own state. Raising questions is our right and the government is robbing us of it,” he added.

Satnam Singh Sahni, another farmer leader from BKU (Doaba) said that they wanted to protest peacefully, still, they were treated in this manner. “I was detained since early morning and later released. What kind of behaviour is this? It was not expected at all,” he said.

President of Mahila Kisan Union Rajwinder Kaur was also put under house arrest today. She along with other members of the Mahila Kisan Union were supposed to go to PM’s rally to hold protest by waving black flags. Rajwinder alleged, “We were supposed to go at 3 pm towards the venue, but the police came to my home and stopped me from leaving the house.”