We aren’t at Shambhu for picnic: Farmers slam govt

Mohit Khanna

Patiala, June 24

On the receiving end after local residents and traders from Ambala gathered at Shambhu border on Sunday and asked the protesting farmers to end their 133-day long protest, leaders of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (Non-political) said they were not here for picnic.

Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee leader Sarvan Singh Pandher said the attempt to hijack the protest site was part of a larger conspiracy as the government wanted to divert the attention from the NEET paper leak row ahead of the monsoon session that began from today.

Farmers maintained that they had not blocked the road, rather the Haryana Government had put up barricades and stopped the farmers from marching towards Delhi. They said the farmers were ready to vacate the protest site and return home, but the government was not initiating talks and fulfilling their promise of legal guarantee of the MSP.

“Over 22 farmers have died since the protest began on February 13. This includes the killing of 22-year-old youth Shubhkaran Singh, who was shot on Khanauri border on February 21. Besides, 35 other farmers have suffered injuries, including 17-year-old Jaskaran who lost his right arm in a gunshot wound,” said Manjit Singh Rai, a leader of the SKM (Non-political).

Rai claimed that the attempt of hijacking the stage was part of a well thought-out strategy as the majority of protesting farmers were away from the protest site to carry out paddy transplanting operations in their respective villages.

Meanwhile, Dalit leader Joginder Singh Panchi has accused the farmer leaders Pandher and Jagjit Singh Dallewal for blocking the highways at Shambhu and Khanauri borders for over four months. He said people living in nearly 100 villages around the protest site were facing a miserable time due to the blockade.