NEW DELHI : Protests erupt across the states against government’s farm bills, that seek to reduce the country's food-givers to slaves at hands of corporate monopolies. Angry farmers, farm workers and people from outside the agricultural community, united against the anti-people ammendments. The movement led by Farmers’ Organisations, that warned of intensifying protests in coming days if government failed to roll back the bills, has paralysed states of Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh completely.
The protests have also brought life to a standstill across rural belts in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Karnataka, Gujarat, Odisha, West Bengal, Tripura, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Assam. Other states witnessed widespread demonstrations across their territory. Road picketing, blocking trains, village bandhs, rallies and burning copies of the contentious bills played out in umpteen places across the country.
10 national trade unions also came forth with backing for the countrywide protests called by All-India Kissan Sangharsh Co-op Committee. Political establishments including the Left parties expressed solidarity for the movement. Leaderships at students’ and women’s organisations too organized protests in support. At the inaugural, Hanan Mollah, Tapan Sen, K Hemalatha, Mariyam Dhavle, Viju Krishnan, AR Sindu, Mayuk Biswas and MPs KK Ragesh, Bikas Rajan Bhattacharya and Binoi Biswam addressed the rallies.
Protesters completely blocked Delhi-Meerut Highway near Ghaziabad, Delhi-Noida Expressway and Lucknow-Ayodhya national Highway. In Punjab, trains came to be blocked for the second straight day. There, except for BJP, all political parties are fully backing the protests. Harsebrith Kaur Badal who resigned his ministerial post at the centre, lend leadership to the protests at Lambi in Muktasar. In Patna, farmers held tractor rallies under the aegis of RJD . Road blockades were rampant across Tamil Nadu and Karnataka too.
In Kerala, satyagrahas have been organized at 250 centres in the state under leadership of Joint Committee for Farmers’ Protests. At protest function in Raj Bhavan, All-India Kissan Sabha Vice-President S Ramachandran Pillai inaugurated satyagraha. The Chairman for state Joint Kissan Committee, Satyan Moikiri, presided at the occasion, and leaders from the protest committees - KN Balagopal, CK Nanu and Uzhmaykkal Venugopal - addressed the event.
