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Raising slogans, singing songs and carrying flags in reds, greens and blues, round 400 farmers with affiliation to totally different outfits from a variety of states on Saturday gathered at north Delhi’s Burari floor the place they’ve been permitted to carry a peaceable protest towards the brand new farm reform legal guidelines. While 1000’s of farmers stayed put at the Singhu and Tikri borders of Delhi for the third consecutive day amid heavy police presence, many made their manner into the nationwide capital and gathered at the Nirankari floor, one of many largest within the metropolis.
The farmers, largely from Punjab and Haryana and likewise from Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, arrived in vans and tractors. Bhuvan Singh Yadav had began his journey from Gwalior on November 24 and reached Delhi through Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh together with a number of different members of the All India Krishak Khet Majdoor Sangathan (AIKKMS).
“We were stopped by the Uttar Pradesh police at the Rajasthan-UP border on a bridge, but we did not go back. We continued to protest on the bridge even when it rained. Eventually police had to give in,” he mentioned. “We came here with our questions and will return with the answers,” Yadav mentioned.
The farmers have been protesting the Centre’s three farm legal guidelines — The Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation), The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance, and Farm Services and The Essential Commodities (Amendment). They are apprehensive that the legal guidelines would pave the way in which for dismantling of the minimal assist worth (MSP) system, leaving them at the “mercy” of massive corporates.
Yadav, who owns 50 acres of land in Madhya Pradesh’s Ashoknagar village, mentioned whereas the legal guidelines particularly don’t point out getting rid of MSP, that’s inevitable. “What the government is saying about not doing away with the minimum support price (MSP) is misleading,” Yadav alleged, including the legal guidelines will result in abolition of the ‘mandis’, the place farmers’ produce is auctioned at affordable costs.
“These corporates will then buy the grains at whatever prices they deem fit. If big farmers like me are worried, what will happen to the small ones?” he posed. Those from Haryana are nervous that the legislations will worsen the already “critical” state of affairs the farmers are in.
“In the last six years, only five per cent of buyers have been purchasing grains at MSP… with the laws passed, even that will not happen,” claimed Kishan Kumar, who owns 3.5 acres of land in a village in Haryana’s Hisar district. He mentioned good high quality paddy that ought to ideally be promoting for Rs 4,400 per quintal was being offered for Rs 2,200-2,600 per quintal.
“(Narendra) Modiji talks about ‘mann ki baat’. This is our ‘mann ki baat’, added Shamsher Singh, another farmer from Hisar. Both Singh and Kumar along with several other farmer members of the Bharatiya Kisan Union, reached the Nirankari ground on Saturday at 1 am. They said they have come prepared for a long fight.
Amid the cacophony from farmers who said they were determined to make their point, members of the Akhil Bharatiya Kisan Sangharsh Samanvay Samiti struck up a chorus ‘Chahe Kuch Bhi Karlo Hum Badhte Jaenge’ (Do whatever you want, we will progress). For Simranjeet Kulrian, a farmer from Punjab’s Mansa, the laws are simply misplaced. “The authorities retains saying that the legal guidelines are for our profit and our rights, however we by no means requested for these rights. We needed them to waive farmer loans, however they’ve finished nothing about that,” he said.
Kulrian, who owns 26 acres of land, arrived at the protest ground on Saturday. Hanuman Singh, a small farmer with barely two acres of land in Rajasthan’s Kotputli, said although the state government has shown support to the farmer community, he has come all the way to Delhi in solidarity with his fellow farmers from the rest of the country.
“Without farmers our nation is doomed. The farmers are the nation’s true voice,” he said, adding the central laws will only increase the economic gap The industrialists will keep getting richer while the farmers will continue to suffer, Hanuman Singh alleged. Lokesh Bhati from UP’s Gautambuddha Nagar, who arrived at the protest venue on Saturday morning, agreed. The Kisan Ekta Sangh member said the laws will allow the industrialists to exploit the farmers.
“During the lockdown, it was the farmers who continued to provide meals to the remainder of the nation. To stop them from being exploited, MSP may be very important. But, these legal guidelines will let the industrialists have a free run on the subject of crop costs,” Bhati, who owns nearly 60 acres of land, said. The Bangla Sahib gurdwara set up a community kitchen to feed the protesters.
The Aam Aadmi Party government has also made provisions for food. A couple of e-rickshaws moved around in the ground spreading awareness about the COVID-19 pandemic and the importance of wearing masks. Addressing a group of farmers, social activist Medha Patkar said, “The nation is presently being run by Modi ji and Ambani and Adani. But, we won’t allow them to enter the agriculture sector… that needs to be our decision.” The protest additionally noticed attendance by Congress chief Alka Lamba and AAP MLA Raghav Chaddha amongst others.
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