New Delhi March 10, 2021:Farmers’ unions protesting against the central government’s three new farm laws have called for a nationwide strike (Bharat bandh) on March 26. The day coincides with the completion of four months of farmers’ protest at Delhi borders against the central government.
The Samyukta Kisan Morcha, the umbrella body of agitating farm unions, has also announced that farmer bodies and trade unions will protest privatisation and fuel price hike on March 15.
Thousands of farmers, mostly from Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh, have been camping at the Delhi border points — Singhu, Tikri and Ghazipur — for over three months, demanding the repeal of farm laws and a legal guarantee on the minimum support price(MSP) for their crops.
The protesting farmers have expressed apprehension that these laws would pave the way for the dismantling of the MSP system, leaving them at the “mercy” of big corporations.
However, the government has maintained that the new laws will bring better opportunities to farmers and introduce new technologies in agriculture.
The road blockade in Haryana began at 11 am and continued till 4 pm.
Farmers holding black flags and wearing black armbands and some women protesters with black ‘dupattas’ shouted slogans against the Central government for not acceding to their demands.
Protesters in Sonipat and Jhajjar districts and some other places brought their tractor-trolleys and other vehicles and parked them in the middle of the KMP Expressway at some stretches.
The protesting farmers squatted on the expressway and criticised the Centre for not withdrawing the farm legislations, which they called as “black laws”.
“Our agitation against the three farm laws will continue unless the Centre withdraws these laws. We will not step back,” said a protester in Sonipat.(India Today)