New Delhi, January 3 

In a scathing attack on the Centre over the farmers’ protests, Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Sunday said that for the first time since independence such an “arrogant” government has come to power that cannot see the sufferings of ‘annadatas’, and demanded that the new farm laws be immediately withdrawn unconditionally.

In a statement in Hindi, she said governments and their leaders who ignore public sentiments in a democracy cannot govern for long and it is now quite clear that the protesting farmers will not bow in the face of the Centre’s policy of “tire and pushover”.

“There is still time, the Modi government should leave the arrogance of power and immediately withdraw the three black laws unconditionally to end the agitation of the farmers who are dying in the cold and rain. This is Rajdharma and a true tribute to the farmers who have lost their lives,” Gandhi said.

The Modi government should remember that democracy means protecting the interests of the people and the farmers-workers, she said.

“Along with the people of the country, I am also disturbed seeing the condition of the ‘annadatas’ who have been agitating for 39 days at the borders of Delhi in the bitter cold and rain in support of their demands,” Gandhi said.

In the wake of the government’s apathy, so far, more than 50 farmers have lost their lives with some even taking the step of committing suicide due to the government’s neglect, she said.

“But neither the heartless Modi government relented nor the Prime Minister or any other minister uttered a word of consolation till today. I pay my respects to all the deceased farmer brothers and pray to the Lord to give their families the strength to bear this sorrow,” the Congress president said.

“Since independence, this is the first such arrogant government that has come to power in the history of the country that, leave alone people, cannot even see the sufferings and struggles of ‘annadatas’,” she said.

It seems that ensuring profits for a handful of industrialists has become the main agenda of this government, Gandhi alleged.

The Congress has been seeking the repeal of the three new farm laws, alleging that they will ruin farming and the farmers. The Congress is also supporting the farmers’ agitation against the legislations.

After the sixth round of formal negotiations on Wednesday, the government and farm unions reached some common ground to resolve protesting farmers’ concerns over rise in power tariff and penalties for stubble burning, but the two sides remained deadlocked over the main contentious issues of the repeal of three farm laws and a legal guarantee for minimum support price (MSP).

Braving the cold, thousands of farmers, mainly from Punjab and Haryana, are protesting at various borders of the national capital for more than a month against these laws.

The government has presented these laws as major agriculture sector reforms aimed at helping farmers and increasing their income, but the protesting unions fear that the new legislations will leave them at the mercy of big corporates by weakening the MSP and mandi systems. — PTI

Ravinder Saini

Tribune News Service

Rewari, January 3

A clash between protesting farmers camping on the Delhi-Jaipur highway near Bhudla-Sangwari village for the past three days and police was witnessed on Sunday when the former reached Masani barrage near Dharuhera town after covering 4 km from their previous halt.

The police lobbed teargas shells to stop farmers. A tractor caught fire during the clash but the blaze was doused by farmers. The protesters were adamant on going ahead while the police had blocked the service lane. The farmers were trying to remove the blockade till the filing of this report.

Read more: Will burn copies of new farm laws on Lohri: Farmer leaders

Sources said many farmers from the Tikri border today joined the camp of another group of farmers at Bhudla-Sangwari village and decided to go ahead. In the evening, they removed police barricades near their camp and moved ahead. The police resisted them initially, but let them go later. The protesters were, thereafter, stopped at Masani barrage as police used teargas shells, sources added.

Happy Singh, a farmer from Rajasthan, told The Tribune that a tractor-trailer caught fire due to teargas shells. Some blankets and quilts also got burnt while some farmers who were sitting inside saved their life by jumping off the trailer. They also managed to take out an LPG cylinder, he claimed.

“We wanted to go to Delhi peacefully, but the police lobbed teargas shells and used force on us to stop us from moving ahead,” said a protesting farmer, adding that they are vowed to go to Delhi and would do it come what may.

Read also: 4 more protesting farmers die at Tikri border; count rises to over 50

Heavy rain adds to woes of farmers protesting at Delhi borders

On eve of talks with farmers, Tomar meets Rajnath to discuss govt strategy to end deadlock

The sudden clash resulted in the blockade at the highway. Long queues of vehicles were witnessed, causing inconvenience to commuters who had to use alternative routes to reach their respective destinations.

Meanwhile, ‘Chetna Yatra’ being taken out by the farmers belonging to Bhartiya Kisan Union (Ugrahan) reached the Shahjahanpur-Khera border in Rajasthan in the evening. They spent Saturday night at Gangaicha Jat toll plaza near Rewari city in the open amid bone-chilling cold. Locals provided them food and tea. The yatra would return to Tikri on Monday.

Kavita Arya, a farmer leader, said they welcomed the Chetna Yatra at the Shahjahanpur border and made special arrangements for food and stay for farmers.

Impasse: union agri minister Tomar meets Rajnath to firm up strategy

Tribune News Service

Sonepat, January 3

Ahead of the seventh round of talks with the Centre on Monday, Punjab’s farm unions announced that they would burn copies of the three contentious farm laws on Lohri (January 13) and celebrate January 23 — Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s birth anniversary — as ‘Azad Kisan Diwas’.

• Edit: Cold and cruel

Representatives of the unions at a press conference here condemned the lathi-charge on farmers protesting against BJP leaders in Sangrur. Harmeet Singh Kadian said: “We will only focus on the repeal of farm laws and MSP during our meeting with the Centre on Monday.” In a statement, the All-India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee said the success of Monday’s talks would depend entirely on the repeal of three farm laws.

Union leader Onkar Singh urged the Centre to discard obduracy and repeal the “black” laws. Jangveer Singh Chauhan observed that the protest had been peaceful for the past 37-38 days but some political leaders were trying to provoke the farmers. He also said they had sent a letter on sugarcane rates to the Punjab Government but had yet to receive a response. “We will decide whether or not to hold a tractor march on Republic Day after tomorrow’s meeting,” Kadian said. Farmers camping at Singhu and Tikri had a tough time owing to overnight rains. Waterproof tents were of little help. Meanwhile, farmers from Maharashtra on Sunday left Nagpur for Delhi to join the protesters.

Haryana cops use force to halt march

The Haryana Police on Sunday fired tear gas shells to thwart a march by a group of farmers proceeding towards Delhi at the Masani barrage in Rewari. The farmers, who broke barricades, had been camping at the service lane of Delhi-Jaipur highway for several days.

Sukhmeet Bhasin
Tribune News Service
Bathinda, January 3

Women in large numbers have emerged at the forefront of the farmer’s protests against the farm laws in Delhi.

This has led to the new awakening of gender equality amongst the male-the dominated mindset in the state amid the farmers protest.

Women of all ages are out are staging a protest demanding the repeal of the farm laws.

In the past few weeks, they have braved all odds and stayed put despite Delhi’s bone-chilling winter amid lack of toilets, privacy or hygiene. Many are staying in the tractors in the cold.

These women have given a new fillip to the protests as some can be seen singing revolutionary songs, while others are giving fiery speeches. They have been occupying front rows and are shouting slogans against the anti-government.

Shingara Singh Mann, state secretary BKU Ekta Ugrahan said “We have always believed that women should be given equal respect and chances as they are no less than men in any aspect, due to which our union has mobilized women in large numbers to participate in this protest.”

Harjinder Kaur Bindu, BKU Ekta Ugrahan women wing president said: “More than 2,000 women are staging a protest at Tikri border only and we have known that this fight against three farm laws would be big, so we planned that farmers along with their families would participate in this protest and mobilize the farmers accordingly.”

She stated that young girls, college-going women, newly married women and the elderly were all are participating in the protest.

80-year-old Mohinder Kaur of Bahadurgarh Jandian in Bathinda, who hit the national headlines after Kangana Ranaut tweeted her photo, said: “I went to Delhi to participate in protest because the union government want to give their lands to the big corporate houses, to save my land, I went to Delhi.”

Paramjit Kaur of Bathinda district, who along with his 10-year-old daughter is in protest at Tikri border said: “They have sacrificed everything and has come here along with her family in protest to save our land, because if we will not have land, then how we will survive. It is a fight for our survival, so she will be staying along with her family till these laws are not repealed”.

Tribune News Service

Jhajjar/Sonepat, January 3

Two farmers protesting against the Centre’s three agri laws reportedly died at Tikri border on Saturday night.

The two farmers were from Bathinda (Punjab) and Jind (Haryana).

Meanwhile, two more farmers died at Kundli (Singhu) border today.

The deceased have been identified as 45-year-old Kulbeer of Gangana village (Sonepat) and 45-year-old Shamsher Singh of Lidhra village of Sangrur district (Punjab).

The cause of death for all four is reported to be a cardiac arrest.

As many as 13 protesters have, so far, have lost their lives during the ongoing farmers’ protest at Tikri. Of those 13, a total of 11 have died due to cardiac arrest.

So far, a total of 50 farmers have died while protesting against the farm laws on the Delhi borders.

In the first 15 days the protest at Delhi, as many as 15 farmers died either owing to the cold weather conditions or accidents.

As per a list released by the Sanjyutka Kisan Morcha on December 16, a total of 30 farmers have died during the protest against the three farm laws. Since then, as many as 20 more succumbed to either accidents or health issues.

The 32 farmer organisations had given the ‘Delhi Chalo’ call for November 26 and 27. Following a massive response from Punjab, a large number of farmers from other parts of the country also reached the capital borders.

Ravinder Saini

Tribune News Service

Jhajjar, January 2

Naib Subedar Ravinder Jakhar (40), who was killed in Pak shelling along the Line of Control (LoC) in the Nowshera sector of Jammu and Kashmir’s Rajouri district was a third generation soldier. His father Meer Singh Jakhar and grandfather Sheo Chand Jakhar also served in the Army.

Jitendra Jakhar, the elder brother of Ravinder, is serving in the Army as Subedar, while his son Nitin recently cleared the physical test and is looking forward to join the Army and maintain the family tradition of serving the nation.

The mortal remains of the martyr will be brought to his native village of Salhavaas here on Sunday for last rites.

Ravinder had visited his home three months ago and went back to Rajouri a day before Diwali on November 13 after spending over a month in the village.

“Ravinder was so passionate towards joining the Army that he started preparations for it soon after the completion of his Class 12th exams,” revealed Jitendra.

“He joined the Army in 1998 and participated in the Kargil war in 1999. Our entire family has served the Indian Army and we want our next generation too to join the Army.

“We have built a house in Ambala so that our children can get good education and crack the requisite exam for getting into the Army,” Jitendra added.

Jitendra also informed that Ravinder’s son Nitin was preparing for the medical exam – a prerequisite for joining the Army.

“We are shocked but also proud of Ravinder. He made the supreme sacrifice for the nation,” Jitendra added.

Ravinder’s cousin Ramesh said he was a brave, highly motivated and sincere man who always encouraged youth of the village to join the Army.

“He (Ravinder) would be known for his devotion to duty. A large number of people from nearby villages are likely to attend his last rites,” said Ramesh.

Ravinder’s last rites will be performed at Shaheed Park in the village and a statue of his will also be installed in his remembrance, said the villagers.