Punjab: Farmers protested outside the houses of AAP ministers and MLAs

Punjab: Farmer organisations on Monday protested outside the residences of ministers and MLAs of the ruling Aam Aadmi Party against the Punjab government’s action to end the year-long agitation at its borders with Haryana. Members of the Samyukta Kisan Morcha (non-political) and Kisan Mazdoor Morcha were removed from Shambhu and Khanauri protest sites by the Punjab police on March 19. Protests were held at 30 locations across 17 districts on Monday. Days earlier, farmer organisations had rejected an invitation for talks with Agriculture Minister Gurmeet Singh Khudian and asked the state government to first create a conducive atmosphere for it. Farmer organisations also demonstrated outside the agriculture minister’s house at Khudian village in Lambi assembly constituency. Barring two incidents of brawl, the protests remained largely peaceful. In Moga, there was a face-off between supporters of AAP MLA from Dharamkot Devinderjit Singh Ladi Dhos and protesters. Similarly, farmers and police came face to face in Jalandhar when the police foiled the protesters’ attempt to surround the residence of Defence Services Welfare Minister Mohinder Bhagat.

‘Toll tax is a kind of Jaziya’

The hike in toll tax for travellers on national highways was one of the issues raised vehemently by the protesting farmers. Farmer leaders also tried to corner the government on issues of illegal sand mining, absence of a state agriculture policy and the drug menace. In Amritsar, farmer leader Sarwan Singh Pandher compared the toll tax to Jaziya, a tax imposed on non-Muslims in the medieval period. He alleged that the farmer protest sites were cleared in the police action on March 19 to facilitate toll plaza operators, who were prevented by farmers from collecting tax during their agitation that lasted for over a year. He said as soon as the protesters were cleared, the toll plazas became operational again and their operators were charging hefty sums from travellers. On Sunday, the Centre-controlled National Highways Authority of India had hiked toll tax for all types of vehicles on all national highways from Rs 5 to Rs 15. Pandher condemned the move and accused the state and central governments of adopting a vindictive attitude towards Punjab. The farmer leader also demanded action against SHO of Shambhu police station Harpreet Singh and AAP’s Ghanaur MLA Gurlal Singh Ghanaur. He accused the SHO of taking a soft stand towards those involved in tractor-trailer theft during the police action on farmers. “These people are said to be close to Gurlal Singh Ghanaur,” Pandher claimed.

The MLA rejected the allegation as baseless.

Meanwhile, farmer leader Tejveer Singh led a protest outside the residence of Health Minister Balbir Singh in Patiala. The farmers blocked the road leading to his house and demanded strict action against those involved in the theft of their belongings from the protest site. He said, “What more can you expect? A case has been registered against a policeman and his relative for stealing the trolley of farmers from Khanauri.”