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Ambala: Farmers pay homage to young protester killed during agitation, demand farm activists’ release
Amid the deployment of a huge number of forces, farmers from Haryana and Punjab, including those protesting at Shambhu and Khanouri borders, participated and observed a two-minute silence in Shubhkaran Singh’s memory
In a ceremony organised at Mohra grain market on NH-44 in Ambala Cantonment on Sunday, several farmer unions paid homage to Shubh karan Singh, a 21-year-old farmer from Bathinda, who died in a clash with police at the Khanauri border on February 21.
Amid the deployment of a huge number of forces, farmers from Haryana and Punjab, including those protesting at Shambhu and Khanauri borders, participated and observed a two-minute silence in Singh’s memory.
The gathering convened by Samyukta Kisan Morcha (non-political) and Kisan Mukti Morcha (KMM) collectively condemned the recent arrest of Navdeep Jalbera, alias, water-cannon boy of the 2020 farmer’s agitation, and his aide Gurkirat Shahpur. They were nabbed near Shaheed Bhagat Singh International Airport of Mohali by the Ambala police on March 28.
The farmer leaders termed it “undemocratic” and alleged that the arrest showed that the government is in “panic”. They said that a “major action” will be taken on April 7 for their release, for which an announcement will be made at a press conference on Monday.
The CIA-1 unit of the police arrested Navdeep in connection with a murder bid FIR registered during the farmers’ “Delhi Chalo” protest last month, in which many farmer leaders, including Sarwan Singh Pandher, Amarjeet Mohri, Jai Singh Jalbera, Navdeep Jalbera, Sukhchain Badog, Gurkirat Shahpur, Tejveer Singh, and others were named.
Police probing if ‘foreign funds’ fuelling protests
After two days of remand, Navdeep was presented before an Ambala court on Sunday again and was sent a day of remand, while Gurkirat was sent to judicial custody.
People familiar with the development said the cops have been aiming to recover the source of sticks, swords, slingshots and cars used during the protests at the Haryana-Punjab border and the arrest of a person who modified the tractor meant to break the barricades.
Along with this, a senior Ambala cop said a probe was underway into whether foreign funds were being used to run the protests. However, there was no confirmation yet of any recovery from the duo by the police.
Navdeep and Gurkirat’s counsel Rohit Jain said, “Police sought a remand of four days, but the court granted it till Monday. It was argued that my clients are farmers, not terrorists, as being framed. The whole case as well as extension of remand merely based on assumptions that there has been use of foreign funds as unjustified.”
Farmer’s income less than MGNREGA workers: Agri expert
Noted agriculture expert and researcher Devinder Sharma, who also paid tributes to Shubhakaran, said some scholars, due to their interests are making false propaganda about getting MSP on crops.
Addressing the gathering, Sharma claimed that today, the income of the country’s farmers is less than that of MGNREGA workers.
Questioning the government, he asked, “Why does the government spend only ₹1.25 lakh crore every year on farmers and agriculture sector out of the total budget of ₹45 lakh crore? The population of farmers in the country is 55 percent and thus 50 percent of the (annual) budget should be spent directly on farmers.”
“Government wants to crush the movement but we will continue the protests, till our demands are met,” he added.
