Punjab: SKM protests US trade deal, AAP’s ‘silence’

BKU’s state president Joginder Singh Ugrahan says the central government, by signing the US trade dea, has put the employment of farmers and labourers at stake

Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), a coalition of farmer unions, staged protests in Bathinda and other Malwa districts against the central government for the US trade deal, and against the state government for its “silence” besides use of force against protesting farmers.

BKU state president Joginder Singh Ugrahan addressing a gathering in Sangrur on Sunday.

SKM supporters held sit-ins outside the residences of various leaders, including Punjab Vidhan Sabha speaker and AAP legislator Kultar Singh Sandhwan in Faridkot, AAP MLA from Moga Amandeep Kaur Arora and BJP’s Bathinda unit president Sarup Chand Singla.

Addressing a gathering in Faridkot, SKM leader Rajinder Singh Deep Singh Wala charged the AAP government with remaining silent on the Centre’s free trade deal. In Mansa, farmers charged the AAP government for forcing Bathinda police to violently handle a farmers’ protest in Jeond village in which two activists suffered injuries.

They said the use of tear gas shells against farmers twice in Bathinda this month showed that the Punjab government is now preventing the agrarian community from raising its voice.

In Sangrur, farmers associated with Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ekta-Ugrahan) protested outside chief minister Bhagwant Mann’s residence, demanding a rollback of the India-US trade agreement, Electricity Amendment Bill, Seed Bill and the labour code. They sought restoration of the MGNREGA.