Farmers’ unions have called for demonstrations on Saturday and Sunday outside the residences of prominent political leaders in Punjab, following four days of protests after another round of negotiations failed.
Tension mounted at the Punjab-Haryana Shambhu border as security personnel fired teargas shells to disperse farmers protesting at the site on Friday.
This happened after the third round of negotiations between the farmer unions, Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann, and Union ministers Piyush Goyal, Arjun Munda, and Nityanand Rai concluded in the early hours of Friday.
Addressing the media late Thursday, Munda had said the farmers had brought up several important issues, making the meeting “very positive”, adding that the next round of talks would be held on Sunday.
Meanwhile, the Haryana government has extended its suspension of internet services till Saturday to “prevent any disturbance of peace and public order”.
Extending support to the protesting farmer unions at Shambhu and Khanauri borders in Haryana, the Bharti Kisan Union (Ugrahan) has announced two days of demonstrations, on Saturday and Sunday, outside the houses of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Punjab state president Sunil Jakhar in Abohar, and BJP leaders Captain Amarinder Singh in Patiala and Kewal Dhillon in Barnala.
The union also said staff at toll plazas in Punjab will not be allowed to collect payments from commuters.
The protests had taken a violent turn earlier in the week, as the Haryana Police, in a bid to block farmers from marching towards Delhi, fired teargas shells and rubber bullets, injuring at least 40 farmers. At least three farmers reportedly lost their vision due to pellet injuries.
In Friday’s Grameen Bharat Bandh, and blockade was organized at 240 places in Punjab, as per information received from the farmer union Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM).
Thousands of members of 16 farmer unions from Punjab, mainly the SKM (non-political) and the Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee (KMSC) headed for the national capital in tractors and utility vehicles for their ‘Dilli Chalo’ agitation.
Several prominent unions had called for a nationwide industrial or sectoral strike and Grameen Bandh on Friday to press the Union government to accept demands such as a legal guarantee on the minimum support price, or MSP, implementation of the Swaminathan Commission’s recommendations, pension for farmers and farm labourers, and farm debt waiver.