Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ekta Ugrahan), one of the biggest farmers’ organisations in Punjab, will launch a campaign for alternative policies in the agriculture sector on September 28, the birthday of Bhagat Singh. An extended meeting of the BKU’s State committee, held in Barnala recently, also decided to work to ensure “political setback” to “corporate driven policies”.
Talking to The Hindu after the meeting, BKU president Joginder Singh Ugrahan said his organisation will hold a massive rally on the birthday of Bhagat Singh in Barnala. “People are in distress due to economic crisis, unemployment, indebtedness and the rampant use of drugs. Bhagat Singh offered an alternative to these problems. We will propagate these alternatives among the people. Bhagat Singh’s alternative was based on social and economic change. He stood for a revolution. We will interact with the people on the alternative Bhagat Singh had offered to their problems,” Mr. Ugrahan said.
Mr. Ugrahan said the campaign would be against the flow of farmers’ money to the pockets of a few corporate houses. “Our fight is to ensure political setbacks to those political powers who support these corporate houses. To make this political setback a reality, we will go to the people and campaign among them,” he said.
The Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) had decided in a joint meeting for joint programmes against the Centre. Mr. Ugrahan is also a core committee member of the SKM. He said the campaign based on Bhagat Singh’s ideals will be limited to Punjab. “Other constituents of SKM are also planning their own campaigns and protests,” he said.
Mr. Ugrahan said the Centre was trying to bring back the three repealed farm laws through the back door. “This government is working for a few corporate houses. They have repealed the three farm laws, but they are trying to bring the content of the three laws through back door. The Amendments proposed to the Warehousing Act is an example. New silos and storage capacities are being opened in Punjab. This is a continuation of the privatisation and corporate policies the Union government is following,” he said.
He added that the Centre had gone back from the promises it made to the SKM before the protests were withdrawn. He, however, added that the SKM was not relaunching any major protests such as the protests against the three farm laws. “We are not setting a deadline for the government to adhere to its promises. If they do not keep theirs, we will have to continue and strengthen our struggles. But we are not launching any strong protests at the moment,” he said.
