Farmers and labor union participants march and stage a protest
At the Amar Shaheed Sukhdev Interstate Bus Terminal here on Friday, a protest march was conducted in favor of the Bharat Bandh demand issued by the Samyukt Kisan Morcha and Central Trade Unions. Trade union members and supporters of SKM turned out in force for the countrywide strike and bandh, amid the loud chants of “Mazdoor Kisan Ekta Zindabad.”
The demonstrators said that the Central Government, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was the target of the bandh call because of its oppressive policies and its betrayal of the pledge made when it withdrew the three contentious agricultural legislations. Following the demonstration, workers, employees, and members of the public marched from the bus stop to the DC’s office in the Mini-Secretariat on Ferozepur Road. AITUC, CITU, CTU, and INTUC representatives were among the speakers in a rally that was later held at the Mini-Secretariat.
Arun Mitra, Dr. Rajinder Pal Singh Aulukh, Dr. Jagdish Chand, Joginder Ram, Sukhwinder Singh Lotey, Chamkaur Singh, Dr. Vijay Kumar, Mangat Ram Pasla, vice-president of the CTU, and comrade Bant Singh Brar, president of the AITUC, Punjab, were among those who spoke at the gathering. The speakers denounced the Center’s persecution of farmers near the Shambhu border and its use of drones to drop tear gas shells on farmers who were peacefully demonstrating. As a result, several of them have sustained injuries. This goes against the nation’s fundamental safeguards of everyone’s right to free speech and the ability to protest. After the Supreme Court’s ruling on electoral bonds, they also called for the resignation of Prime Minister Modi.
They argued that after the Prime Minister’s withdrawal of the three agricultural legislation, the Center had abandoned its promise to the farmers to meet their requests. Protest speakers warned that laws discriminating against workers were being introduced on a regular basis. While the impoverished faced denials of their basic rights to employment and sustenance, as well as price increases, the corporate sector received favorable treatment in the form of tax breaks and the ability to classify their outstanding debt as non-performing assets (NPA). They added that small and medium-sized business owners, laborers, farmers, students, youth, women, and other stakeholders have raised a protest against these policies.
The speakers said that the nationwide walkout by workers and farmers throughout the nation today, which included bandhs in every town, was a reflection of the nation’s mounting discontent. “The administration is turning to a risky game of dividing society along communal lines in order to win votes after failing on all fronts. This administration is the most corrupt, as the Supreme Court’s ruling on electoral bonds has shown,” they stated.
They insisted that the Center cease privatizing public sector businesses and ensure MSP for crops. In addition, they called for justice for the victims of the Lakhimpur Kheri event as well as the firing and prosecution of Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Ajay Mishra Tenny. Additionally, they emphasized that the “pro-rich and anti-people New Education Policy 2020” must be rejected.
