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Farmers to march to Delhi in batches: Pandher
Pandher said the first group of farmers, during their march to Delhi, will stop at the Jaggi city centre in Ambala, Mohra grain market, Khanpur Jattan and Pipli in Haryana
The protesting farmer unions — Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM) and Samyukta Kisan Union Non-Political — would march to the national capital on foot.
Farmers under the banner of the SKM (Non-Political) and KMM have been camping at the Shambhu and Khanauri border points between Punjab and Haryana since February 13, after their march to Delhi was stopped by security forces.
Addressing reporters in Chandigarh on Sunday, KMM leader Sarwan Singh Pandher said farmers have been protesting at Shambhu and Khanauri for 293 days.
Sharing details about their plan to march towards the Capital from Shambhu, Pandher said the first “jatha” (group) of farmers will be led by Satnam Singh Pannu, Surinder Singh Chautala, Surjit Singh Phul and Baljinder Singh.
The group that will carry essential items with it will head towards Delhi peacefully, he said.
The first group of farmers, during their march to Delhi, will stop at the Jaggi city centre in Ambala, Mohra grain market, Khanpur Jattan and Pipli in Haryana, he said.
Pandher said the farmers will walk every day from 9am to 5pm and spend the nights on the road. He added that the number of farmers in the first group will be shared later.
On the decision to reach Delhi on foot, Pandher said: “Union minister Ravneet Singh Bittu and Haryana government have been saying that farmers should reach Delhi on foot and not use tractor-trailers. If still farmers are stopped from marching towards Delhi, the real face of the BJP will be exposed.”
Lashing out at the BJP-led Centre, Pandher said it has not held any talks with the protesting farmers since February 18.
Accusing the Centre of running away, he said: “They have stopped the talks with us. “Contract farming is not acceptable to us. We are demanding a legal guarantee on the MSP (minimum support price) for crops,” he said.
A panel of three the then Union ministers — Arjun Munda, Piyush Goyal and Nityanand Rai —held talks with the farmer representatives on February 18. The farmers had then rejected the Centre’s proposal of buying pulses, maize and cotton at the MSP by government agencies for five years.
Farmer leader Guramneet Singh Mangat said when the first group of farmers starts marching towards Delhi on December 6, farmer bodies in Kerala, Uttarakhand and Tamil Nadu will take out marches towards their respective state assemblies.
SKM (non-political) leader Jagjit Singh Dallewal continued his fast unto death at the Khanauri border point.
Farmers, who have been seeking a legal guarantee on the MSP, have been camping at the Shambhu and Khanauri border points since February 13.
The protesting farmers had attempted to march towards Delhi on February 13 and February 21 but were stopped by the security forces deployed at the capital’s borders.
Besides a legal guarantee on the MSP, the protesters are demanding farm loan waiver, pension for farmers and farm labourers, no hike in the electricity tariff, withdrawal of police cases and “justice” for the victims of the 2021 Lakhimpur Kheri violence, reinstatement of the Land Acquisition Act, 2013 and compensation to the families of the farmers who died during a previous agitation in 2020-21.
(With PTI Inputs)
