Punjab: Farmers’ organizations will invite the returned people to the Mahapanchayats
Punjab: Farmer organisations protesting along Punjab’s border with Haryana and in Ratangarh in Rajasthan on Friday decided to invite youths deported from the US to their mahapanchayats to be held next week. Farmer organisations under the aegis of Samyukt Kisan Morcha (non-political) and Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM) will hold meetings at Ratangarh and Khanauri and Shambhu in Punjab on February 11, 12 and 13 respectively to mark the completion of one year of their agitation. The mahapanchayats are being organised ahead of the farmers’ talks with the Centre on February 14 over their demands, including a law ensuring minimum support price for crops. The decision to invite youths from Punjab and Haryana deported from the US comes two days after a military plane carrying 104 Indians landed at Sri Guru Ramdas Jee International Airport in Amritsar. The protesting unions said most of the deportees are from poor farming families, and had paid around Rs 50 lakh to travel agents to migrate without suitable job opportunities due to the country’s “flawed” employment and education policies. The unions alleged that the US authorities “treated them like criminals” when they were caught while entering the country. The farmers asked why the plane did not land in Gujarat? They also asked why Amritsar was chosen for the deportation flight when most of the deportees were from other states. “If the standard deportation procedure was followed, why did the plane land in Amritsar and not in Delhi, Mumbai or Gujarat, from where 33 deportees had come,” farmer leader Sarwan Singh Pandher said. Pandher alleged that the plane was deliberately landed in Amritsar to show the farming community, especially Punjabis, in a “bad light”. “It is very unfortunate that even Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann did not object to the plane landing in Amritsar,” Pandher said. ‘Supporting farming could have stopped migration’
Pandher alleged that the country’s farming youth were migrating to other countries due to the poor financial condition of their families, as farming was becoming increasingly unprofitable. “If the government had given a legal guarantee on minimum support price (MSP) and initiated other reforms, they would not have been forced to seek illegal routes to the US,” he said. Pandher also alleged that after being caught by US authorities, many deportees were stopped and “paraded like hardened criminals before being packed into an army plane with only one toilet facility.” KMM farmer leader Gurmanet Singh Mangat called for introspection on why people were increasingly opting for immigration.
“The answer is simple. There are not enough employment opportunities. And even when jobs do exist, the salaries are far lower than those offered abroad. We have a government that is pro-corporate. If the government wants to stop this mass migration, they will have to strengthen the agriculture sector and small businesses. Mamata’s secretary meets Dallewal KJS Cheema, Special Principal Secretary to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, visited the Khanauri border and met Jagjit Singh Dallewal, who has been on an indefinite fast since November 26. Cheema said Mamata wanted to meet the fasting leader but was unable to do so due to her busy schedule. He said Mamata had sent him to inquire about the well-being of the farmer leader.
