Farmers on dharna at the Bastara toll plaza in Karnal on Monday. Tribune photo: Sayeed Ahmed
ibune News Service
Karnal, January 11
Farmers have threatened to gherao the police station if their brethren are arrested in connection with the vandalism of the venue, where Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar was to address a “kisan mahapanchayat” in the district’s Kaimla village on Sunday.
Khattar had to cancel his programme as the situation turned tense. Subsequently, around 900 farmers, including 71 by name, were booked. Among them was BKU (Charuni) president Gurnam Singh Charuni.
“We are ready to court arrest, but want to make it clear that if the police try to arrest any farmer, we will gherao the police station (where the case has been registered),” said Jagdeep Singh Aulakh, member of the state core committee, BKU (Charuni) on Monday while addressing farmers at the Bastara toll plaza, where they have been staging dharna.
“Not a single farmer attacked a government or police official. On the contrary, it was BJP workers who attacked farmers,” he claimed.
The BKU leader further said, “We had appealed to the BJP several times that it should cancel the programme, but it ignored our calls, forcing us to protest… The police had detained three farmers, who were released later.”
SP Ganga Ram Punia said, “A case against farmers has been registered under Sections 147, 149, 323, 332, 353, 109 and 120-B of the IPC, and Section 3 of the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act.”